Institute of Sport Science, University of Graz, Austria.
Am J Prev Med. 2011 Nov;41(5):508-15. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2011.06.046.
The GPS represents an innovative way to objectively assess the spatial locations of physical activity behavior. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the capability of GPS to collect high-quality data on the location of activities in research on the relationship between physical activity and the environment.
Published and unpublished articles identified from seven electronic databases, reference lists, bibliographies, and websites up to March 2010 were systematically searched for, appraised, and analyzed in summer 2010. Included studies used GPS to measure the spatial locations of physical activity and some form of environmental analysis related to the GPS data. The capability of GPS was expressed in terms of data quality, which in turn was defined as the proportion of GPS data lost in each study.
24 studies met the inclusion criteria. Data loss was positively correlated with the measurement period for which participants were asked to wear the GPS device (r=0.81, p<0.001). Major reasons for data loss included signal drop-outs, loss of device battery power, and poor adherence of participants to measurement protocols. Data loss did not differ significantly between children and adults or by study sample size, year of publication, or GPS device manufacturer.
GPS is a promising tool for improving understanding of the spatial context of physical activity. The current findings suggest that the choice of an appropriate device and efforts to maximize participant adherence are key to improving data quality, especially over longer study periods.
GPS 是一种客观评估身体活动空间位置的创新方法。本系统综述的目的是确定 GPS 在研究身体活动与环境之间关系的研究中收集活动位置的高质量数据的能力。
2010 年夏季，系统地搜索了七个电子数据库、参考文献、书目和网站中截至 2010 年 3 月的已发表和未发表的文章，并对其进行了评估和分析。纳入的研究使用 GPS 测量身体活动的空间位置，并对与 GPS 数据有关的某种形式的环境分析。GPS 的能力用数据质量来表示，数据质量反过来又定义为每个研究中丢失的 GPS 数据的比例。
24 项研究符合纳入标准。数据丢失与参与者被要求佩戴 GPS 设备的测量期呈正相关（r=0.81，p<0.001）。数据丢失的主要原因包括信号丢失、设备电池电量耗尽以及参与者对测量协议的遵守程度差。儿童和成人之间、研究样本量、发表年份或 GPS 设备制造商之间的数据丢失没有显著差异。
GPS 是提高对身体活动空间背景理解的有前途的工具。目前的研究结果表明，选择合适的设备并努力最大限度地提高参与者的依从性是提高数据质量的关键，特别是在较长的研究期间。
