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Genetics and Epigenetics

In response to: ‘Information bias in measures of self-reported physical activity’

International Journal of Obesity volume 42, pages 2064–2065 (2018)Cite this article

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We thank the editors for the opportunity to respond to the issues raised by Folley et al. [1]. We also thank Folley et al. for their interest in our paper and for helping to provide further insight into our findings.

In our paper, we sought to identify genetic correlates of habitual physical activity (PA) by examining five PA measures: three based on self-report, and two based on accelerometry data [2]. Folley et al. hypothesized that individuals with poor cognitive function are more likely to over-estimate and over-report their level of physical activity. They support their hypothesis by showing that those with lower memory, lower education, and older age tend to self-report higher levels of PA, but generally exhibit lower levels of accelerometry-measured PA – an objective and presumably more accurate measure of actual PA (although not without its own limitations). The trends that they show are relatively consistent, and do seem to suggest that there is over-reporting of PA by these individuals. This could suggest that some of the loci identified for moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and perhaps for some of the other self-report measures, may be related, at least in part, to relatively poorer cognitive performance rather than to MVPA.

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References

  1. Folley S, Zhou A, Hypponen E. Information bias in measures of self-reported physical activity. Int J Obes. 2018. In press.

  2. Klimentidis YC, Raichlen DA, Bea J, Garcia DO, Wineinger NE, Mandarino LJ, et al. Genome-wide association study of habitual physical activity in over 377,000 UK Biobank participants identifies multiple variants including CADM2 and APOE. Int J Obes. 2018;42:1161–76.

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  4. Lyall DM, Ward J, Ritchie SJ, Davies G, Cullen B, Calis C. et al. Alzheimer disease genetic risk factor APOE e4 and cognitive abilities in 111,739 UK Biobank participants. Age Ageing. 2016;45:511–7.

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Acknowledgements

This research was conducted using the UK Biobank Resource under Application Numbers 15678 and 21259.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Yann C. Klimentidis & Zhao Chen

  2. School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    David A. Raichlen

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jennifer Bea

  4. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jennifer Bea & Scott B. Going

  5. Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    David O. Garcia

  6. Scripps Translational Science Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Nathan E. Wineinger

  7. Center for Disparities in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Lawrence J. Mandarino

  8. Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Physiological Sciences Interdisciplinary Programs, BIO5 Institute, and Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Gene E. Alexander

  9. Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Gene E. Alexander

Authors
  1. Yann C. Klimentidis
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  2. David A. Raichlen
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  3. Jennifer Bea
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  4. David O. Garcia
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  5. Nathan E. Wineinger
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  6. Lawrence J. Mandarino
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  7. Gene E. Alexander
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  8. Zhao Chen
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  9. Scott B. Going
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Correspondence to Yann C. Klimentidis.

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Klimentidis, Y.C., Raichlen, D.A., Bea, J. et al. In response to: ‘Information bias in measures of self-reported physical activity’. Int J Obes 42, 2064–2065 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0251-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0251-6

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