Adult Changes in Thought Study

Activity Monitoring Device (Accelerometry) Data

Activity Monitoring Data.png Data Description

In 2016, participants in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study were invited to participate in an activity-monitoring sub-study (ACT-AM) involving the wear of an activPAL and/or ActiGraph accelerometer for 7 days. Since then, activPAL data collection has been expanded to a larger number of ACT participants and included addition of an Actiwatch to capture sleep measures.

ACT-AM

The original activity-monitoring study included almost 1200 ACT participants who consented to participate and from whom at least 4 days of valid activPAL and/or ActiGraph data was obtained (almost 1000 participants had both). Participants completed a self-reported sleep log for the week, and the measures collected from the devices in this study included:

 ActiGraph

  • Time spent in sedentary activities
  • Time spent in light intensity physical activities
  • Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activities

 activPAL

  • Time spent sitting, standing, and stepping
  • Number of sit-to-stand transitions
  • Information on sitting bouts (mean duration, number ≥30 minutes)
  • Number of steps
Project 1: The ACT Sleep and Activity Monitoring Project

Since that original ACT-AM study, the ACT Sleep and Activity Monitoring Project has expanded data collection to more ACT participants with a focus on two devices: activPAL and Actiwatch. The goal with this expanded data collection is to obtain device-assessed measures of all activities within the 24-hour activity cycle (movement and exercise, sedentary behavior, sleep) to facilitate unique investigations of the potential links between these activities and cognitive health. Collection and processing of this data is ongoing.

Data Availability

The current data freeze available for data sharing with external researchers with approved proposals includes the ActiGraph and activPAL measures from the ACT-AM study but not the activPAL and Actiwatch data currently being collected and processed by Project 1. Data from those latter efforts will be available in future data freezes.

Data Dictionary

Please see the ACT-AM files under Supplementary Data in the current data freeze data dictionary ​​​​for information on the included ACT-AM data.

Key Publications

The following publications provide additional detail on the activity monitoring device data elements. These may be helpful supporting citations when publishing analyses using these data.

  • Rosenberg DE, Walker R, Greenwood-Hickman MA, Bellettiere J, Xiang Y, Richmire K, Higgins M, Wing D, Larson EB, Crane PK, & LaCroix AZ. (2020). Device-assessed physical activity and sedentary behavior in a community-based cohort of older adults. BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1256. doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09330-z
  • Wu Y, Rosenberg DE, Greenwood-Hickman MA, McCurry SM, Proust-Lima C, Nelson JC, Crane PK, LaCroix AZ, Larson EB, Shaw PA. Analysis of the 24-Hour Activity Cycle: An illustration examining the association with cognitive function in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 14:1083344. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1083344
  • Rosenberg DE, Wu Y, Idu A, Greenwood-Hickman MA, McCurry SM, LaCroix AZ, Shaw PA. (2024). Historic Cognitive Function Trajectories as Predictors of Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity in Older Adults. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 79(7), glae125. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glae125
  • Greenwood-Hickman MA, Zhu W, Idu A, Harrington LB, McCurry SM, LaCroix AZ, Shaw PA, Rosenberg DE. (2025). Associations Between 10-year Physical Performance and Activities of Daily Living Trajectories with Physical Behaviors in Older Adults. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2025, 22, 704. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22050704