Cognitive function and the agreement between self-reported and accelerometer-accessed physical activity

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have reported weak or moderate correlations between self-reported and accelerometer-assessed physical activity. One explanation is that self-reported physical activity might be biased by demographic, cognitive or other factors. Cognitive function is one factor that could be associated with either overreporting or underreporting of daily physical activity. Difficulties in remembering past physical activities might result in recall bias. Thus, the current study examines whether the cognitive function is associated with differences between self-reported and accelerometer-assessed physical activity. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the population-based Activity and Function in the Elderly in Ulm study (ActiFE) were used. A total of 1172 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65–90 years) wore a uniaxial accelerometer (activPAL unit) for a week. Additionally, self-reported physical activity was assessed using the LASA Physical Activity Questionnaire (LAPAQ). Cognitive function was measured with four items (immediate memory, delayed memory, recognition memory, and semantic fluency) from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Total Score (CERAD-TS). RESULTS: Mean differences of self-reported and accelerometer-assessed physical activity (MPA) were associated with cognitive function in men (r(s) = −.12, p = .002) but not in women. Sex-stratified multiple linear regression analyses showed that MPA declined with high cognitive function in men (β = −.13; p = .015). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that self-reported physical activity should be interpreted with caution in older populations, as cognitive function was one factor that explained the differences between objective and subjective physical activity measurements. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12877-018-0747-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.