Introduction: The short International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-short) has frequently been used
for national and international comparable physical activity (PA) prevalence studies. The purpose of this paper
is to describe a Greek version of IPAQ-short (IPAQ-Gr) and present its reliability properties in Greek young
and healthy adults.
Methods: Two hundred and eighteen health science students of the Athens Technological Educational Institute,
aged 19-29 years, were randomly selected and participated in the study. An intra-examiner reliability
study over time (8 and 30 days apart) was carried out to assess IPAQ-Gr repeatability. An inter-examiner reliability
study was also performed to assess the consistency of IPAQ-Gr outcomes between examiners. At
the same time, an intra-examiner reliability study using an independent sample of 175 medical students at
the University of Ioannina was carried out in order to examine multi-centre IPAQ-Gr reliability. Intra-class correlation
coefficients for IPAQ scores and kappa statistics and percent agreement for physical activity classification
were used in the analysis.
Results: Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) between day-1 and day-9 assessments for IPAQ total and
vigorous PA were high in all groups examined (0.84 to 0.93). ICCs for walking PA, moderate PA and sitting
hours were lower, but still good (0.69 to 0.81). Repeatability of IPAQ-Gr outcomes after one-month re-administration
was high for total and vigorous PA (0.87, 0.81) and good for moderate (0.66) and walking PA
(0.75). Inter-examiner reliability data showed that all correlations between examiners were greater than 0.70,
up to 0.87 (paired t-test, p=NS), with the exception of moderate PA, where correlations were weaker (0.58
to 0.64). Similar results were found when intra-examiner correlations were compared between educational
institutes (multi-centre inter-examiner reliability of IPAQ).
Conclusions: IPAQ-Gr was found to present acceptable reliability properties in Greek young adults. IPAQ-Gr
showed high repeatability values for total and vigorous PA, and good for moderate and walking PA.