Buchan, Duncan S.McLellan, GillianDonnelly, SamanthaArthur, Rosie2022-05-042022-05-042019-09-10Buchan, D.S., McLellan, G., Donnelly, S. and Arthur, R. (2019) 'The use of the intensity gradient and average acceleration metrics to explore associations with BMI z-score in children', Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(23), pp. 2751-2758.0264-04141466-447Xhttps://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2019.1664536https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/12163Item previously deposited in UWS repository at: https://research-portal.uws.ac.uk/en/publications/the-use-of-the-intensity-gradient-and-average-acceleration-metricItem not available in this repository.Rosie Arthur - ORCID: 0000-0003-0651-4056 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0651-4056This study used the intensity gradient (IG) and average acceleration metrics to describe children’s activity profiles and explore associations with body mass index (BMI) z-score. Two hundred and forty-six children (n = 138 girls) aged 9.6 ± 1.4 years wore a wrist-mounted ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometer for 7 days on their non-dominant wrist. Physical activity (PA) metrics captured included: the IG which describes the intensity distribution of accelerations across the 24 h monitoring period; average acceleration which provides a measure of the volume of activity; total moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and inactive time. Acceleration was averaged over 5s epochs. Finally, BMI z-score was calculated for each participant. Average acceleration was negatively associated with BMI z-score (p < 0.05) independent of age and gender but not IG. The IG was negatively associated with BMI z-score independent of potential correlates and average acceleration. Total MVPA was not associated with BMI-z score. The IG and average acceleration metrics may be used to explore the independent or cumulative effects of the volume and intensity distribution of activity upon measures of health and well-being in children to inform specific activity recommendations.2751-2758enActiGraphAccelerometerActivity MetricsWrist-WornRaw AccelerationThe use of the intensity gradient and average acceleration metrics to explore associations with BMI z-score in childrenArticle