PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Birte Marie Albrecht
AU  - Fabian Tristan Flaßkamp
AU  - Annemarie Koster
AU  - Bjoern M Eskofier
AU  - Karin Bammann
TI  - Cross-sectional survey on researchers’ experience in using accelerometers in health-related studies
AID  - 10.1136/bmjsem-2021-001286
DP  - 2022 May 01
TA  - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
PG  - e001286
VI  - 8
IP  - 2
4099  - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001286.short
4100  - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001286.full
SO  - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED2022 May 01; 8
AB  - Objectives Accelerometers are widely applied in health studies, but lack of standardisation regarding device placement, sampling and data processing hampers comparability between studies. The objectives of this study were to assess how accelerometers are applied in health-related research and problems with accelerometer hardware and software encountered by researchers.Methods Researchers applying accelerometry in a health context were invited to a cross-sectional web-based survey (August 2020–September 2020). The questionnaire included quantitative questions regarding the application of accelerometers and qualitative questions on encountered hardware and software problems. Descriptive statistics were calculated for quantitative data and content analysis was applied to qualitative data.Results In total, 116 health researchers were included in the study (response: 13.7%). The most used brand was ActiGraph (67.2%). Independently of brand, the main reason for choosing a device was that it was the standard in the field (57.1%–83.3%). In children and adolescent populations, sampling frequency was higher (mean: 73.3 Hz ±29.9 Hz vs 47.6 Hz ±29.4 Hz) and epoch length (15.0s±15.6s vs 30.1s±25.9s) and non-wear time (42.9 min ±23.7 min vs 65.3 min ±35.4 min) were shorter compared with adult populations. Content analysis revealed eight categories of hardware problems (battery problems, compliance issues, data loss, mechanical problems, electronic problems, sensor problems, lacking waterproofness, other problems) and five categories of software problems (lack of user-friendliness, limited possibilities, bugs, high computational burden, black box character).Conclusions The study confirms heterogeneity regarding accelerometer use in health-related research. Moreover, several hardware and software problems were documented. Both aspects must be tackled to increase validity, practicability and comparability of research.Data are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.