Understanding Physical Activity Behaviour in Ontario, Canada: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Analysis of Carrot Rewards App Users
Abstract
Little device-measured data are available to describe the physical activity (PA) of rural-dwelling individuals living with chronic disease. PURPOSE: From accelerometer data collected using a smartphone app (‘Carrot Rewards’), we sought to provide mean daily step counts for app users in general and by age and gender for those living in rural/urban areas and those self-reporting a chronic disease or not. METHODS: This cross-sectional cohort study used device-assessed data from Ontario app users (i.e., PA data collected over a 7-day period for each user) who completed an in-app chronic disease survey from December 2018 to April 2019. A series of ANCOVAs controlling for date were conducted. RESULTS: Overall, 11,162 users (Mage=34.7) accumulated 5,342 steps per day (SE=33.41). Chronic disease status, gender and age bracket significantly influenced (p<.001) mean daily step count, whereas rural/urban status did not (p=.367). Post hoc testing suggested females living with chronic disease(s) were more likely to have insufficient PA. CONCLUSION: Using smartphone-assessed daily step count data, we describe PA behaviours in several population subgroups in Ontario and add to the existing PA surveillance literature.