The UK Biobank used several methods to measure fitness and physical activity in middle- and older-aged adult participants. Fitness was measured using a risk-stratified individualised submaximal bike ergometer test, resulting in 22 different test protocols. Physical activity was assessed using questionnaires and also objectively in a subsample of 100,000 volunteers using a wrist-worn accelerometer worn for 7 days of free-living.
We conducted a study to compare measures of fitness and physical activity from the UK Biobank with gold-standard measures. Fitness estimates from the bike test were compared with respiratory gas measurements from a maximal exercise test. Energy expenditure estimates from self-report and wrist-worn accelerometry were compared with energy expenditure as measured by the doubly labelled water method. The latter also provided an opportunity to validate energy intake estimates from a new online 24-hour dietary recall method.
Publications
UK Biobank Validation Study publications on the MRC Epidemiology Unit publications database.
Selected publications
Pearce M, Strain T, Kim Y, Sharp SJ, Westgate K, Wijndaele K, Gonzales T, Wareham NJ, Brage S. Estimating physical activity from self-reported behaviours in large-scale population studies using network harmonisation: findings from UK Biobank and associations with health outcomes. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (2020)
White T, Westgate K, Hollidge S, Venables M, Olivier P, Wareham N, Brage S. Estimating energy expenditure from wrist and thigh accelerometry in free-living adults: a doubly labelled water study. Int J Obes (2019)
Pearce M, Bishop TRP, Sharp S, Westgate K, Venables M, Wareham NJ, Brage S. Network Harmonisation of Physical Activity Variables Through Indirect Validation. JMPB (2019)
Gonzales T, Westgate K, White T, Hollidge S, Strain T, Jeon J, Christensen D, Jensen J, Wareham N, Brage S. Validation of the UK Biobank submaximal cycle ergometer test for assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness. Nat Commun (in review)
Foster, E. et al. Validity and reliability of an online self-report 24-h dietary recall method (Intake24): a doubly labelled water study and repeated-measures analysis. J Nutr Sci 8, e29 (2019).
Information for researchers
Study summary
There were two main aims of this study; validation of fitness and physical activity measures used in UK Biobank.
For fitness, we tested the validity of a range of submaximal bike tests to predict maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) from heart rate response to submaximal workloads. This was done by using features computed from several ramp tests to predict the participant’s VO2max on a steady-state test. Preliminary results demonstrate good agreement between predicted and directly measured VO2max across UK Biobank bike tests. Predictive validity is also improved, as demonstrated by associations with all-cause and cause-specific mortality and morbidity.
For physical activity, we validated both self-reported measures and the wrist-worn accelerometer against energy expenditure from the doubly labelled water method. In addition, estimates based on the movement measures from the dominant wrist were compared with the estimates from movement from the non-dominant wrist and the thigh.
We recruited a total of 200 individuals, including both men and women in three different age groups (40-49 yrs; 50-59 yrs; 60-69 yrs) and covering, as a minimum, the 25-75 percentile body mass index range in UK Biobank in each age and sex stratum.
Status
Completed.
Unit role
Unit led with responsibility for data.
Funding
MRC core funded (MC_UU_12015/1, MC_UU_12015/3, MC_UU_12015/5) plus contributions from UK Biobank Ltd, MedImmune Ltd, and Newcastle University.
Data sharing
Please see our Data Sharing pages.
Further information
Please contact: Dr Soren Brage, soren.brage@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
