Comparison of step-count outcomes across seven different activity trackers: a free-living experiment with young and older adults

Background: There are now many different types of activity trackers, including pedometers and accelerometers, to estimate step counts per day. Previous research has extensively examined step-count measurements using activity trackers across various settings while simultaneously wearing different devices.; however, older adults frequently display distinct walking patterns and gait speeds compared to younger adults. This study aimed to compare the step-count between older and younger adults by having them simultaneously wear seven different activity trackers in free-living experiments.

Methods: This study included 35 younger adults (21-43 yrs) and 57 physically independent older adults (65-91 yrs). All participants simultaneously wore one pedometer and six activity trackers: ActiGraph GT3X + Wrist and Hip, Omron Active Style Pro HJA-350IT, Panasonic Actimarker, TANITA EZ-064, Yamasa TH-300, and Yamasa AS-200 for seven days. A regression equation was also used to assess inter-device compatibility.

Results: When comparing wrist-worn ActiGraph to the six hip-worn activity trackers, the wrist-worn ActiGraph consistently recorded step counts over 4,000 steps higher than hip-worn activity trackers in both groups (range, 3000-5000 steps). Moreover, when comparing the ActiGraph worn on the wrist to that worn on the hip, the proportion was higher among older adults compared to younger ones (younger: 131%, older: 180%). The Actimarker recorded the highest average step counts among six hip-worn devices, with 8,569 ± 4,881 overall, 9,624 ± 5,177 for younger adults, and 7,890 ± 4,562 for older adults. The difference between the hip-worn ActiGraph and Active Style Pro was just about 70 steps/day overall. The correlation among all devices demonstrated a very high consistency, except for the wrist-worn ActiGraph (r = 0.874-0.978).

Conclusions: Step counts recorded from seven selected consumer-based and research-grade activity trackers and one pedometer, except for the wrist-worn ActiGraph. showed a variation of approximately 1700 steps (range, 1265-2275 steps) steps for both groups, yet maintained a high correlation with each other. These findings will be valuable for researchers and clinicians as they compare step counts across different studies or representative surveys conducted globally.