2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activities

2024  Journal Article

2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activities

Pub TLDR

This major update expands the utility and accuracy of this widely-used tool for converting reported physical activities into standardized intensity values.

The age-specific focus and addition of new activities enhance its real-world relevance for researchers and practitioners aiming to quantify physical activity and its health impacts in different populations.

Maintaining the Compendium as a "living document" allows it to remain a vital resource as new science emerges.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2023.10.010    PubMed ID: 38242596
 

College of Health researcher(s)

OSU Profile

Highlights

  • The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities presents the energy costs of 1114 PAs including inactivity, leisure, transportation, sports and conditioning, and in-home and occupational settings.
  • The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities is the third update of the Compendium of Physical Activities, first published in 1993 and previously updated in 2000 and 2011.
  • A new website presents the 2024 Adult Compendium, previous versions, and supporting material (www.pacompendium.com).

In addition

  • The 2024 Adult Compendium represents the most comprehensive update yet, adding 303 new physical activity codes and modifying 176 existing ones based on new measured data. This provides researchers and practitioners with expanded options for quantifying physical activity.
  • 82% of the activities now have measured MET values, up from 68% in the 2011 update. Using more measured vs estimated values improves the accuracy of the Compendium.
  • The update is focused on adults ages 19-59, with separate Compendia now available for youth and older adults over 60. Having age-specific Compendia better accounts for differences in resting metabolic rates across the lifespan.
  • A new "Video Games" category was added to capture the growing research on active gaming. This reflects the Compendium adapting to emerging trends.
  • The updated Compendium aims to continue being a key resource and standard for quantifying physical activity intensity in research, public health, clinical, and educational settings. Its use supports important work to understand dose-response relationships between physical activity and health.

Abstract

Background

The Compendium of Physical Activities was published in 1993 to improve the comparability of energy expenditure values assigned to self-reported physical activity (PA) across studies. The original version was updated in 2000, and again in 2011, and has been widely used to support PA research, practice, and public health guidelines.

Methods

This 2024 update was tailored for adults 19–59 years of age by removing data from those ≥60 years. Using a systematic review and supplementary searches, we identified new activities and their associated measured metabolic equivalent (MET) values (using indirect calorimetry) published since 2011. We replaced estimated METs with measured values when possible.

Results

We screened 32,173 abstracts and 1507 full-text papers and extracted 2356 PA energy expenditure values from 701 papers. We added 303 new PAs and adjusted 176 existing MET values and descriptions to reflect the addition of new data and removal of METs for older adults. We added a Major Heading (Video Games). The 2024 Adult Compendium includes 1114 PAs (912 with measured and 202 with estimated values) across 22 Major Headings.

Conclusion

This comprehensive update and refinement led to the creation of The 2024 Adult Compendium, which has utility across research, public health, education, and healthcare domains, as well as in the development of consumer health technologies. The new website with the complete lists of PAs and supporting resources is available at https://pacompendium.com.

Herrmann, S.D., Willis, E.A., Ainsworth, B.E., Barreira, T.V., Hastert, M., Kracht, C.L., Schuna, J.M., Cai, Z., Quan, M., Tudor-Locke, C., Whitt-Glover, M.C., Jacobs, D.R.(2024)2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activitiesJournal of Sport and Health Science13(1)