Daily Step-Based Recommendations Related to Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Adolescents

Among adolescents empirical studies examining the total daily steps translation of the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recommendation are scarce and inconsistent, and there are no previous studies with cadence-based steps and related to sedentary behavior. The main objective of the present study was to establish and compare the accuracy of daily step-based recommendations related to the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary behavior thresholds in adolescents. The present study followed a cross-sectional design. A total of 126 adolescents (56 girls) aged 12-15 years old were assessed by ActiGraph GT3X accelerometers for eight consecutive days (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, sedentary behavior, and steps) and the multistage 20-meter shuttle run test (cardiorespiratory fitness). ROC curve analyses showed that total daily steps (AUC = 0.94, 0.89-0.99; Threshold ≥ 11,111 steps/ day; = 0.93; = 0.67; < 0.001) was a more appropriate indicator than cadence-based daily steps for distinguishing between physically active and inactive adolescents. Daily step-based thresholds represent a promising way to translate a total daily sedentary behavior threshold (e.g., total daily steps, AUC = 0.87, 0.81-0.93; Sensitivity = 0.87; Specificity = 0.70). Adolescents who met a favorable combination of step-based recommendations related to both physical activity and sedentary behavior thresholds had a higher probability of having a healthy cardiorespiratory fitness profile than those who did not meet either of them (e.g., risk ratio = 5.05, 1.69-15.08) or only the one related to physical activity (e.g., risk ratio = 4.09, 1.36-12.29). These findings may help policy-makers to provide accurate daily step-based recommendations that would simplify the physical activity and sedentary behavior thresholds for adolescents.