Guidelines for Data Processing andAnalysis of the International Physical
Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)– Short and Long Forms
November 2005

Contents
1.

Introduction

2.

Uses of IPAQ Instruments

3.

Summary Characteristics of Short and Long Forms

4.

Overview of Continuous and Categorical Analyses of IPAQ

5.

Protocol for Short Form

6.

Protocol for Long Form

7.

Data Processing Rules

8.

Summary Algorithms

Appendix 1.

At A Glance IPAQ Scoring Protocol – Short Forms

Appendix 2.

At A Glance IPAQ Scoring Protocol – Long Forms

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1.

Introduction

This document describes recommended methods of scoring the data derived fromthe telephone / interview administered and self-administered IPAQ short and longform instruments. The methods outlined provide a revision to earlier scoring protocols
for the IPAQ short form and provide for the first time a comparable scoring method
for IPAQ long form. Latest versions of IPAQ instruments are available fromwww.ipaq.ki.se.
Although there are many different ways to analyse physical activity data, to datethere is no formal consensus on a ‘correct’ method for defining or describing levels ofphysical activity based on self–report population surveys. The use of different scoring
protocols makes it very difficult to compare within and between countries, even when
the same instrument has been used. Use of these scoring methods will enhance thecomparability between surveys, provided identical sampling and survey methods
have been used.
2.

Uses of IPAQ Instruments

IPAQ short form is an instrument designed primarily for population surveillance ofphysical activity among adults. It has been developed and tested for use in adults(age range of 15-69 years) and until further development and testing is undertaken
the use of IPAQ with older and younger age groups is not recommended.
IPAQ short and long forms are sometimes being used as an evaluation tool inintervention studies, but this was not the intended purpose of IPAQ. Users shouldcarefully note the range of domains and types of activities included in IPAQ before
using it in this context. Use as an outcome measure in small scale intervention
studies is not recommended.

3.

Summary Characteristics of IPAQ Short and Long Forms

1.

IPAQ assesses physical activity undertaken across a comprehensive set of
domains including:a. leisure time physical activity
b. domestic and gardening (yard) activities
c. work-related physical activity
d. transport-related physical activity;

2.

The IPAQ short form asks about three specific types of activity undertaken in
the four domains introduced above. The specific types of activity that areassessed are walking, moderate-intensity activities and vigorous-intensity
activities.

3.

The items in the short IPAQ form were structured to provide separate scores on
walking, moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity activity. Computation of thetotal score for the short form requires summation of the duration (in minutes)
and frequency (days) of walking, moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity
activities. Domain specific estimates cannot be estimated.

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4.

The IPAQ long form asks details about the specific types of activities
undertaken within each of the four domains. Examples include walking fortransportation and moderate-intensity leisure-time activity.

5.

The items in the long IPAQ form were structured to provide separate domain
specific scores for walking, moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity activity
within each of the work, transportation, domestic chores and gardening (yard)
and leisure-time domains. Computation of the total scores for the long form
requires summation of the duration (in minutes) and frequency (days) for all thetypes of activities in all domains. Domain specific scores or activity specific subscores may be calculated. Domain specific scores require summation of thescores for walking, moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity activities within thespecific domain, whereas activity-specific scores require summation of thescores for the specific type of activity across domains.

4.

Overview of Continuous and Categorical Analyses of IPAQ

Both categorical and continuous indicators of physical activity are possible from both
IPAQ forms. However, given the non-normal distribution of energy expenditure inmany populations, it is suggested that the continuous indicator be presented as
median minutes/week or median MET–minutes/week rather than means (such asmean minutes/week or mean MET-minutes/week).

4.1

Continuous Variables

Data collected with IPAQ can be reported as a continuous measure. One measure of
the volume of activity can be computed by weighting each type of activity by its
energy requirements defined in METs to yield a score in MET–minutes. METs are
multiples of the resting metabolic rate and a MET-minute is computed by multiplying
the MET score of an activity by the minutes performed. MET-minute scores areequivalent to kilocalories for a 60 kilogram person. Kilocalories may be computedfrom MET-minutes using the following equation: MET-min x (weight in kilograms/60
kilograms). MET-minutes/day or MET-minutes/week can be presented although thelatter is more frequently used and is thus suggested.
Details for the computation for summary variables from IPAQ short and long forms
are detailed below. As there are no established thresholds for presenting METminutes, the IPAQ Research Committee propose that these data are reported ascomparisons of median values and interquartile ranges for different populations.
4.2

Categorical Variable: Rationale for Cut Point Values

There are three levels of physical activity proposed to classify populations:
1. Low
2. Moderate
3. High

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The algorithms for the short and long forms are defined in more detail in Sections 5.3
and 6.3, respectively. Rules for data cleaning and processing prior to computing thealgorithms appear in Section 7.
Regular participation is a key concept included in current public health guidelines forphysical activity.1 Therefore, both the total volume and the number of days/sessions
are included in the IPAQ analysis algorithms.
The criteria for these levels have been set taking into account that IPAQ asks
questions in all domains of daily life, resulting in higher median MET-minutes
estimates than would have been estimated from leisure-time participation alone. The
criteria for these three levels are shown below.
Given that measures such as IPAQ assess total physical activity in all domains, the“leisure time physical activity” based public health recommendation of 30 minutes onmost days will be achieved by most adults in a population. Although widely accepted
as a goal, in absolute terms 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity is low andbroadly equivalent to the background or basal levels of activity adult individuals
would accumulate in a day. Therefore a new, higher cutpoint is needed to describe
the levels of physical activity associated with health benefits for measures such as
IPAQ, which report on a broad range of domains of physical activity.
‘High’
This category was developed to describe higher levels of participation. Although it is
known that greater health benefits are associated with increased levels of activity
there is no consensus on the exact amount of activity for maximal benefit. In theabsence of any established criteria, the IPAQ Research Committee proposes ameasure which equates to approximately at least one hour per day or more, of atleast moderate-intensity activity above the basal level of physical activity Consideringthat basal activity may be considered to be equivalent to approximately 5000 steps
per day, it is proposed that “high active” category be considered as those who moveat least 12,500 steps per day, or the equivalent in moderate and vigorous activities.
This represents at least an hour more moderate-intensity activity over and above thebasal level of activity, or half an hour of vigorous-intensity activity over and above
basal levels daily. These calculations were based on emerging results of pedometersstudies.2
This category provides a higher threshold of measures of total physical activity and isa useful mechanism to distinguish variation in population groups. Also it could be
used to set population targets for health-enhancing physical activity when multidomain instruments, such as IPAQ are used.

1

Pate RR, Pratt M, Blair SN, Haskell WL , Macera CA, Bouchard C et al. Physical activity and public health. A recommendationfrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. Journal of American
Medical Association 1995; 273(5):402-7. and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity and Health: A
Report of the Surgeon General. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, The Presidents' Council on Physical Fitness and Sports:
Atlanta, GA:USA. 1996.
2
Tudor-Locke C, Bassett DR Jr. How many steps/day are enough? Preliminary pedometer indices for public health. Sports
Med. 2004;34(1):1-8.

Revised November20054‘Moderate’This category is defined as doing some activity, more than the low active category. It
is proposed that it is a level of activity equivalent to “half an hour of at least
moderate-intensity PA on most days”, the former leisure time-based physical activity
population health recommendation.
‘Low’
This category is simply defined as not meeting any of the criteria for either of theprevious categories.

5.

Protocol for IPAQ Short Form

5.1

Continuous ScoresMedian values and interquartile ranges can be computed for walking (W), moderateintensity activities (M), vigorous-intensity activities (V) and a combined total physicalactivity score. All continuous scores are expressed in MET-minutes/week as defined
below.
5.2

MET Values and Formula for Computation of MET-minutes/week

The selected MET values were derived from work undertaken during the IPAQ
Reliability Study undertaken in 2000-20013. Using the Ainsworth et al. Compendium(Med Sci Sports Med 2000) an average MET score was derived for each type ofactivity. For example; all types of walking were included and an average MET value
for walking was created. The same procedure was undertaken for moderate-intensity
activities and vigorous-intensity activities. The following values continue to be used
for the analysis of IPAQ data: Walking = 3.3 METs, Moderate PA = 4.0 METs andVigorous PA = 8.0 METs. Using these values, four continuous scores are defined:
Walking MET-minutes/week = 3.3 * walking minutes * walking days
Moderate MET-minutes/week = 4.0 * moderate-intensity activity minutes * moderate days
Vigorous MET-minutes/week = 8.0 * vigorous-intensity activity minutes * vigorous-intensity days
Total physical activity MET-minutes/week = sum of Walking + Moderate + Vigorous METminutes/week scores.

5.3

Categorical Score

Category 1 Low
This is the lowest level of physical activity. Those individuals who not meet criteria
for Categories 2 or 3 are considered to have a ‘low’ physical activity level.

3

Craig CL,Marshall A , Sjostrom M et al. International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12 country reliability andvalidity Med Sci Sports Exerc 2003;August

Revised November20055Category 2 Moderate
The pattern of activity to be classified as ‘moderate’ is either of the following criteria:a) 3 or more days of vigorous-intensity activity of at least 20 minutes per dayORb) 5 or more days of moderate-intensity activity and/or walking of at least 30
minutes per dayORc) 5 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or vigorous
intensity activities achieving a minimum Total physical activity of at least 600
MET-minutes/week.

Individuals meeting at least one of the above criteria would be defined asaccumulating a minimum level of activity and therefore be classified as ‘moderate’.
See Section 7.5 for information about combining days across categories.
Category 3 HighA separate category labelled ‘high’ can be computed to describe higher levels ofparticipation.
The two criteria for classification as ‘high’ are:a)vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days achieving a minimum Total
physical activity of at least 1500 MET-minutes/weekORb)
7 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or
vigorous-intensity activities achieving a minimum Total physical activityof at least 3000 MET-minutes/week.
See Section 7.5 for information about combining days across categories.

5.4

Sitting Question in IPAQ Short FormThe IPAQ sitting question is an additional indicator variable of time spent insedentary activity and is not included as part of any summary score of physicalactivity. Data on sitting should be reported as median values and interquartile ranges.
To-date there are few data on sedentary (sitting) behaviours and no well-accepted
thresholds for data presented as categorical levels.

6.

Protocol for IPAQ Long Form

The long form of IPAQ asks in detail about walking, moderate-intensity and vigorousintensity physical activity in each of the four domains. Note: asking more detailed
questions regarding physical activity within domains is likely to produce higher
prevalence estimates than the more generic IPAQ short form.

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6.1

Continuous Score

Data collected with the IPAQ long form can be reported as a continuous measure
and reported as median MET-minutes. Median values and interquartile ranges canbe computed for walking (W), moderate-intensity activities (M), and vigorous-intensity
activities (V) within each domain using the formulas below. Total scores may also be
calculated for walking (W), moderate-intensity activities (M), and vigorous-intensity
activities (V); for each domain (work, transport, domestic and garden, and leisure)and for an overall grand total.

6.2

MET Values and Formula for Computation of MET-minutes

Work Domain
Walking MET-minutes/week at work = 3.3 * walking minutes * walking days at work
Moderate MET-minutes/week at work= 4.0 * moderate-intensity activity minutes * moderate-intensity
days at work
Vigorous MET-minutes/week at work= 8.0 * vigorous-intensity activity minutes * vigorous-intensity
days at work
Total Work MET-minutes/week =sum of Walking + Moderate + Vigorous MET-minutes/week scores atwork.

Active Transportation Domain
Walking MET-minutes/week for transport = 3.3 * walking minutes * walking days for transportation
Cycle MET-minutes/week for transport= 6.0 * cycling minutes * cycle days for transportation
Total Transport MET-minutes/week = sum of Walking + Cycling MET-minutes/week scores fortransportation.

Domestic and Garden [Yard Work] Domain
Vigorous MET-minutes/week yard chores= 5.5 * vigorous-intensity activity minutes * vigorous-intensity
days doing yard work (Note: the MET value of 5.5 indicates that vigorous garden/yard work should
be considered a moderate-intensity activity for scoring and computing total moderate intensity
activities.)
Moderate MET-minutes/week yard chores= 4.0 * moderate-intensity activity minutes * moderateintensity days doing yard work
Moderate MET-minutes/week inside chores= 3.0* moderate-intensity activity minutes * moderateintensity days doing inside chores.
Total Domestic and Garden MET-minutes/week =sum of Vigorous yard + Moderate yard + Moderate
inside chores MET-minutes/week scores.

Leisure-Time Domain
Walking MET-minutes/week leisure = 3.3 * walking minutes * walking days in leisure
Moderate MET-minutes/week leisure = 4.0 * moderate-intensity activity minutes * moderate-intensity
days in leisureVigorous MET-minutes/week leisure = 8.0 * vigorous-intensity activity minutes * vigorous-intensity
days in leisureTotal Leisure-Time MET-minutes/week = sum of Walking + Moderate + Vigorous MET-minutes/weekscores in leisure.

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Total Scores for all Walking, Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activities
Total Walking MET-minutes/week = Walking MET-minutes/week (at Work + for Transport + in Leisure)
Total Moderate MET-minutes/week total = Moderate MET-minutes/week (at Work + Yard chores +inside chores + in Leisure time) + Cycling Met-minutes/week for Transport + Vigorous Yard chores
MET-minutes/week
Total Vigorous MET-minutes/week = Vigorous MET-minutes/week (at Work + in Leisure)Note: Cycling MET value and Vigorous garden/yard work MET value fall within the coding range ofmoderate-intensity activities.

Total Physical Activity Scores
An overall total physical activity MET-minutes/week score can be computed as:
Total physical activity MET-minutes/week = sum of Total (Walking + Moderate + Vigorous) METminutes/week scores.

This is equivalent to computing:Total physical activity MET-minutes/week = sum of Total Work + Total Transport + Total Domestic and
Garden + Total Leisure-Time MET-minutes/week scores.

As there are no established thresholds for presenting MET-minutes, the IPAQ
Research Committee proposes that these data are reported as comparisons ofmedian values and interquartile ranges for different populations.

6.3

Categorical Score

As noted earlier, regular participation is a key concept included in current publichealth guidelines for physical activity.4 Therefore, both the total volume and thenumber of day/sessions are included in the IPAQ analysis algorithms. There arethree levels of physical activity proposed to classify populations – ‘low’, ’moderate’,and ‘high’. The criteria for these levels are the same as for the IPAQ short [describedearlier in Section 4.2]
Category 1 Low
This is the lowest level of physical activity. Those individuals who not meet criteria
for Categories 2 or 3 are considered ‘low’.
Category 2 Moderate
The pattern of activity to be classified as ‘moderate’ is either of the following criteria:d) 3 or more days of vigorous-intensity activity of at least 20 minutes per dayORe) 5 or more days of moderate-intensity activity and/or walking of at least 30
minutes per day
OR
4Pate RR, Pratt M, Blair SN, Haskell WL , Macera CA, Bouchard C et al. Physical activity and public health. A recommendationfrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. Journal of American
Medical Association 1995; 273(5):402-7. and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity and Health: A
Report of the Surgeon General. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, The Presidents' Council on Physical Fitness and Sports:
Atlanta, GA:USA. 1996.

Revised November20058f) 5 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or vigorousintensity activities achieving a minimum Total physical activity of at least 600
MET-minutes/week.
Individuals meeting at least one of the above criteria would be defined asaccumulating a moderate level of activity. See Section 7.5 for information about
combining days across categories.
Category 3 HighA separate category labelled ‘high’ can be computed to describe higher levels ofparticipation.
The two criteria for classification as ‘high’ are:a)vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days achieving a minimum Total
physical activity of at least 1500 MET-minutes/weekORb)
7 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or
vigorous-intensity activities achieving a minimum Total physical activityof at least 3000 MET-minutes/week.
See Section 7.5 for information about combining days across categories.

6.4

IPAQ Sitting Question IPAQ Long FormThe IPAQ sitting question is an additional indicator variable and is not included aspart of any summary score of physical activity. To-date there are few data on
sedentary (sitting) behaviours and no well-accepted thresholds for data presented as
categorical levels. For the sitting question ‘Minutes’ is used as the indicator to reflect
time spent in sitting rather than MET-minutes which would suggest an estimate ofenergy expenditure.
IPAQ long assesses an estimate of sitting on a typical weekday, weekend day andtime spent sitting during travel (see transport domain questions).
Summary sitting variables include
Sitting Total Minutes/week = weekday sitting minutes* 5 weekdays + weekend day sitting minutes* 2weekend days
Average Sitting Total Minutes/day = (weekday sitting minutes* 5 weekdays + weekend day sitting
minutes* 2 weekend days) / 7
Note: The above calculation of ‘Sitting Total’ excludes time spent sitting during travel because theintroduction in IPAQ long directs the responder to NOT include this component as it would havealready been captured under the Transport section. If a summary sitting variable including time spentsitting for transport is required, it should be calculated by adding the time reported (travelling in a
motor vehicle) under transport to the above formula. Care should be taken in reporting these alternate
data to clearly distinguish the ‘total sitting’ variable from a ‘total sitting – including transport’ variable.

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7.

Data Processing Rules

In addition to a standardized approach to computing categorical and continuous
measures of physical activity, it is necessary to undertake standard methods for thecleaning and treatment of IPAQ datasets. The use of different approaches and rules
would introduce variability and reduce the comparability of data.
There are no established rules for data cleaning and processing on physical activity.
Thus, to allow more accurate comparisons across studies IPAQ Research Committee
has established and recommends the following guidelines:
7.1

Data Cleaning

I. Any responses to duration (time) provided in the hours and minutes response
option should be converted from hours and minutes into minutes.
II. To ensure that responses in ‘minutes’ were not entered in the ‘hours’ column by
mistake during self-completion or during data entry process, values of ‘15’, ‘30’,‘45’, ‘60’ and ‘90’ in the ‘hours’ column should be converted to ‘15’, ‘30’, ‘45’, ‘60’and ‘90’ minutes, respectively, in the minutes column.
III. In some cases duration (time) will be reported as weekly (not daily) e.g.,
VWHRS, VWMINS. These data should be converted into an average daily timeby dividing by 7.
IV. If ‘don’t know’ or ‘refused ‘ or data are missing for time or days then that case isremoved from analysis.
Note: Both the number of days and daily time are required for the creation of categorical andcontinuous summary variables

7.2

Maximum Values for Excluding OutliersThis rule is to exclude data which are unreasonably high; these data are to beconsidered outliers and thus are excluded from analysis. All cases in which the sum
total of all Walking, Moderate and Vigorous time variables is greater than 960
minutes (16 hours) should be excluded from the analysis. This assumes that on
average an individual of 8 hours per day is spent sleeping.
The ‘days’ variables can take the range 0-7 days, or 8, 9 (don’t know or refused);values greater than 9 should not be allowed and those cases excluded from analysis.

7.3

Minimum Values for Duration of Activity

Only values of 10 or more minutes of activity should be included in the calculation ofsummary scores. The rationale being that the scientific evidence indicates that
episodes or bouts of at least 10 minutes are required to achieve health benefits.
Responses of less than 10 minutes [and their associated days] should be re-coded to‘zero’.

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7.4

Truncation of Data Rules

This rule attempts to normalize the distribution of levels of activity which are usuallyskewed in national or large population data sets.
In IPAQ short - it is recommended that all Walking, Moderate and Vigorous time
variables exceeding ‘ 3 hours’ or ‘180 minutes’ are truncated (that is re-coded) to beequal to ‘180 minutes’ in a new variable. This rule permits a maximum of 21 hours ofactivity in a week to be reported for each category (3 hours * 7 days).
In IPAQ long – the truncation process is more complicated, but to be consistent withthe approach for IPAQ short requires that the variables total Walking, total Moderateintensity and total Vigorous-intensity activity are calculated and then, for each ofthese summed behaviours, the total value should be truncated to 3 hours (180minutes).
When analysing the data as categorical variable or presenting median andinterquartile ranges of the MET-minute scores, the application of the truncation rule
will not affect the results. This rule does have the important effect of preventing
misclassification in the ‘high’ category. For example, an individual who reports
walking for 10 minutes on 6 days and 12 hours of moderate activity on one day could
be coded as ‘high’ because this pattern meets the ‘7 day” and “3000 MET-min”
criteria for ‘high’. However, this uncommon pattern of activity is unlikely to yield thehealth benefits that the ‘high’ category is intended to represent.
Although using median is recommended due to the skewed distribution of scores, if
IPAQ data are analysed and presented as a continuous variable using mean values,
the application of the truncation rule will produce slightly lower mean values thanwould otherwise be obtained.

7.5

Calculating MET-minute/week Scores

Data processing rules 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 deals first with excluding outlier data, thensecondly, with recoding minimum values and then finally dealing with high values.
These rules will ensure that highly active people remain classified as ‘high’, while
decreasing the chances that less active individuals are misclassified and coded as‘high’.
Using the resulting variables, convert time and days to MET-minute/week scores[see above Sections 5.2 and 6.2; METS x days x daily time].

7.6

Calculating Total Days for Presenting Categorical Data on Moderate andHigh Levels

Presenting IPAQ data using categorical variables requires the total number of ‘days’
on which all physical activity was undertaken to be assessed. This is difficult because
frequency in ‘days’ is asked separately for walking, moderate-intensity and vigorousintensity activities, thus allowing the total number of ‘days’ to range from a minimum

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of 0 to a maximum of 21’days’ per week in IPAQ short and higher in IPAQ long. The
IPAQ instrument does not record if different types of activity are undertaken on thesame day.
In calculating ‘moderately active’, the primary requirement is to identify thoseindividuals who undertake activity on at least ‘5 days’/week [see Sections 4.2 and5.3]. Individuals who meet this criterion should be coded in a new variable called “atleast five days” and this variable should be used to identify those meeting criterion b)
at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity and/or walking; and those meeting
criterion c) any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or vigorous-intensity
activities achieving a minimum of 600 MET-minutes/week.
Below are two examples showing this coding in practice:i)an individual who reports ‘2 days of moderate-intensity’ and ‘3 days of walking’should be coded as a value indicating “at least five days”;
ii)
an individual reporting ‘2 days of vigorous-intensity’, ‘2 days of moderateintensity’ and ‘2 days of walking should be coded as a value to indicate “atleast five days” [even though the actual total is 6].
The original frequency of ‘days’ for each type of activity should remain in the data filefor use in the other calculations.
The same approach as described above is used to calculate total days for computing
the ‘high’ category. The primary requirement according to the stated criteria is to
identify those individuals who undertake a combination of walking, moderate-intensity
and or vigorous-intensity activity on at least 7 days/week [See section 4.2].
Individuals who meet this criterion should be coded as a value in a new variable toreflect “at least 7 days”.
Below are two examples showing this coding in practice:i)an individual who reports ‘4 days of moderate-intensity’ and ‘3 days of walking’should be coded as the new variable “at least 7 days”.
ii)
an individual reporting ‘3 days of vigorous-intensity’, ‘3 days moderateintensity’ and ‘3 days walking’ should be coded as “at least 7 days” [eventhough the total adds to 9] .

8.

Summary algorithms

The algorithms in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 to this document show how these rules
work in an analysis plan, to develop the categories 1 [Low], 2 [Moderate], and 3[High] levels of activity.

IPAQ Research Committee
November 2005

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APPENDIX 1
At A Glance
IPAQ Scoring Protocol (Short Forms)
Continuous Score
Expressed as MET-min per week: MET level x minutes of activity/day x days per week
Sample Calculation

MET levels

MET-minutes/week for 30 min/day, 5 days

Walking = 3.3 METs
Moderate Intensity = 4.0 METs
Vigorous Intensity = 8.0 METs

3.3*30*5 = 495 MET-minutes/week
4.0*30*5 = 600 MET-minutes/week
8.0*30*5 = 1,200 MET-minutes/week___________________________TOTAL = 2,295 MET-minutes/week

Total MET-minutes/week = Walk (METs*min*days) + Mod (METs*min*days) + Vig(METs*min*days)

Categorical Score- three levels of physical activity are proposed
1.

Low
•
•

2.

No activity is reported OR
Some activity is reported but not enough to meet Categories 2 or 3.

Moderate
Either of the following 3 criteria• 3 or more days of vigorous activity of at least 20 minutes per day OR• 5 or more days of moderate-intensity activity and/or walking of at least 30 minutes
per day OR• 5 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or vigorousintensity activities achieving a minimum of at least 600 MET-minutes/week.

3.

High
Any one of the following 2 criteria• Vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days and accumulating at least 1500
MET-minutes/week OR• 7 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate- or vigorous-intensity
activities accumulating at least 3000 MET-minutes/week

Please review the full document “Guidelines for the data processing and analysis of the International
Physical Activity Questionnaire” for more detailed description of IPAQ analysis and recommendations fordata cleaning and processing [www.ipaq.ki.se].

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APPENDIX 2
At A Glance
IPAQ Scoring Protocol (Long Forms)
Continuous Score
Expressed as MET-minutes per week: MET level x minutes of activity/day x days per week
Sample Calculation

MET levels

MET-minutes/week for 30 min/day, 5 days

Walking at work= 3.3 METs
Cycling for transportation= 6.0 METs
Moderate yard work= 4.0 METs
Vigorous intensity in leisure= 8.0 METs

3.3*30*5 = 495 MET-minutes/week
6.0*30*5 = 900 MET-minutes/week
4.0*30*5 = 600 MET-minutes/week
8.0*30*5 = 1,200 MET-minutes/week___________________________TOTAL = 3,195 MET-minutes/week

Domain Sub Scores
Total MET-minutes/week at work = Walk (METs*min*days) + Mod (METs*min*days) + Vig(METs*min*days) at work
Total MET-minutes/week for transportation = Walk (METs*min*days) + Cycle(METs*min*days) for transportation
Total MET-minutes/week from domestic and garden = Vig (METs*min*days) yard work +Mod (METs*min*days) yard work + Mod (METs*min*days) inside chores
Total MET-minutes/week in leisure-time = Walk (METs*min*days) + Mod (METs*min*days)+ Vig (METs*min*days) in leisure-time

Walking, Moderate-Intensity and Vigorous-Intensity Sub Scores
Total Walking MET-minutes/week = Walk MET-minutes/week (at Work + for Transport + in
Leisure)Total Moderate MET-minutes/week = Cycle MET-minutes/week for Transport + Mod METminutes/week (Work + Yard chores + Inside chores + Leisure) + Vigorous Yard chores METminutes
Note: The above is a total moderate activities only score. If you require a total of all moderate-intensity
physical activities you would sum Total Walking and Total Moderate

Total Vigorous MET-minutes/week = Vig MET-minutes/week (at Work + in Leisure)
Total Physical Activity Score
Total Physical Activity MET-minutes/week = Walking MET-minutes/week + Moderate METminutes/week + Total Vigorous MET-minutes/week
Continued………..

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Also
Total Physical Activity MET-minutes/week = Total MET-minutes/week (at Work + forTransport + in Chores + in Leisure)

Categorical Score- three levels of physical activity are proposed
1. Low
No activity is reported OR
a. Some activity is reported but not enough to meet Categories 2 or 3.
2. Moderate
Either of the following 3 criteria
a. 3 or more days of vigorous-intensity activity of at least 20 minutes per day OR
b. 5 or more days of moderate-intensity activity and/or walking of at least 30
minutes per day OR
c. 5 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate-intensity or vigorousintensity activities achieving a minimum of at least 600 MET-min/week.
3. High
Any one of the following 2 criteria• Vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days and accumulating at least 1500
MET-minutes/week OR• 7 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate- or vigorous- intensity
activities accumulating at least 3000 MET-minutes/week

Please review the full document “Guidelines for the data processing and analysis of the International
Physical Activity Questionnaire” for more detailed description of IPAQ analysis and recommendations fordata cleaning and processing [www.ipaq.ki.se].

Revised November2005

15