IPAQ Short Form — International Physical Activity Questionnaire (7-Day Recall)
This tool implements the standard 7-item Short Form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) in its original last-7-day recall format, following the 2002 IPAQ Research Committee protocol and the 2005 updated Guidelines for Data Processing and Analysis. The IPAQ Short Form collects self-reported frequency and duration of vigorous-intensity activity, moderate-intensity activity, and walking undertaken in bouts of at least 10 continuous minutes during the preceding 7 days, plus an additional item on usual weekday sitting time. Weekly minutes at each intensity are multiplied by the official IPAQ MET coefficients — Vigorous 8.0 METs, Moderate 4.0 METs, Walking 3.3 METs — and summed to yield total MET-minutes per week. Results are classified into the standard IPAQ Low, Moderate, and High categorical activity tiers. All outputs are mathematical reference calculations only and do not represent precise individual energy expenditure measurements.
IPAQ Short Form Assessment — Last 7 Days Recall
Think of activities that make you breathe much harder than normal for at least 10 minutes at a time.
(If you answered 0 days in Q1, you may select 0 hours and 0 minutes here.)
Do not include walking. Think of activities that make you breathe somewhat harder than normal for at least 10 minutes at a time.
(If you answered 0 days in Q3, you may select 0 hours and 0 minutes here.)
Please count walking at work or at home, walking to travel from place to place, and any other walking that you did solely for recreation, sport, exercise, or leisure.
(If you answered 0 days in Q5, you may select 0 hours and 0 minutes here.)
Think about the time you spent sitting on a typical weekday — at a desk, sitting with friends, traveling, in class, or reading. Do not include time spent sleeping.
IPAQ Short Form: Protocol, MET Coefficients, and Categorical Scoring
Origins of the IPAQ Instrument and Standard Short Form Items
The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was developed between 1998 and 2001 by a consensus working group of 16 investigators from 8 countries convened under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the explicit goal of creating a culturally adaptable, internationally comparable self-report instrument suitable for population-level surveillance of physical activity in adults aged 18–65 years. The standard 7-item Short Form and the longer 27-item Long Form were formally published in the 2002 IPAQ Research Committee protocol release, which was followed in October 2005 by updated Guidelines for Data Processing and Analysis that remain the current standard for IPAQ scoring. Items Q1 and Q2 collect frequency and duration of vigorous-intensity activities defined as those causing large increases in heart rate and breathing for at least 10 minutes at a time. Items Q3 and Q4 collect moderate-intensity activity excluding walking, defined as causing small-to-moderate increases in heart rate and breathing. Items Q5 and Q6 collect walking performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes, with walking treated as a distinct intensity category separate from moderate activity because self-paced walking commonly occurs at lower MET intensities in population samples. Item Q7 separately records usual weekday sitting or reclining time as an indicator of sedentary behavior, consistent with epidemiological evidence demonstrating that sitting time is independently associated with cardiometabolic risk beyond its inverse correlation with moderate/vigorous activity.
MET-Minute Calculation and Standard 2005 IPAQ Processing Rules
The standard IPAQ summary metric — total MET-minutes per week — is calculated by multiplying each activity's weekly minutes by its standard MET intensity coefficient. Per the 2005 Guidelines for Data Processing and Analysis of the IPAQ Short and Long Forms, Vigorous intensity is assigned 8.0 METs (range approximately ≥6 METs per 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities), Moderate intensity is assigned 4.0 METs (range approximately 3.0–5.9 METs), and Walking is assigned 3.3 METs (consistent with 3.3 METs per the 2011 Compendium entry for walking at approximately 3.2 mph or 5.2 km/h on level ground). Weekly minutes for each intensity are computed as the product of self-reported days per week (0–7) and self-reported minutes per typical activity day. Because IPAQ explicitly includes only activity bouts of at least 10 continuous minutes, any reported days with less than 10 minutes of reported daily duration for a given intensity are treated as zero duration per the 2005 IPAQ processing guidelines (a minimum 10-minute threshold check is therefore applied prior to MET multiplication). Total MET-minutes per week is the arithmetic sum of the Vigorous, Moderate, and Walking MET-minute components: Total MET-min/wk = (Vigorous_days × Vigorous_min/day × 8.0) + (Moderate_days × Moderate_min/day × 4.0) + (Walking_days × Walking_min/day × 3.3). Total weekly physical activity minutes (excluding sitting) is also reported as a simple linear sum of minutes across all three intensities for reference. The resulting MET-minute score is population-referenced and does not depend on the respondent's body weight or individual aerobic fitness level.
IPAQ Low / Moderate / High Categorical Classification (2005 Guidelines)
The IPAQ categorical classification into Low, Moderate, and High activity tiers follows the decision-tree algorithm documented in the 2005 updated processing guidelines, which is based on combined thresholds of activity frequency, duration, and estimated MET-minutes per week. The High activity category is assigned when either criterion (a) or criterion (b) is met: (a) vigorous-intensity activity on 3 or more days per week accumulating at least 1500 MET-minutes per week, OR (b) 7 or more days per week of any combination of walking, moderate, or vigorous intensity activities accumulating at least 3000 MET-minutes per week. The Moderate activity category is assigned when any one of three mutually sufficient criteria is met: (a) 3 or more days per week of vigorous-intensity activity of at least 20 minutes per day, OR (b) 5 or more days per week of moderate-intensity activity and/or walking of at least 30 minutes per day, OR (c) 5 or more days per week of any combination of walking, moderate, or vigorous intensity activities achieving a minimum total of at least 600 MET-minutes per week. Respondents meeting neither High nor Moderate criteria are classified in the Low activity category. The three-tier categorical system was intentionally calibrated to approximate WHO and ACSM physical activity guideline thresholds of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, with the High tier representing substantially higher volumes than the minimum guideline.
| IPAQ Category | Criteria Applied (2005 Guidelines) | Approximate Population Reference Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Low Physical Activity | Insufficient activity to meet either Moderate or High criteria; total below 600 MET-min/wk or fails the frequency/duration structure requirements. | Reported last-7-day activity pattern is below population reference thresholds approximating minimum WHO physical activity guideline levels. Individuals in this category may benefit from gradually adding structured moderate walking, light cycling, or other preferred activities starting with 10-minute bouts on 3+ days per week. Sedentary behavior (sitting time) is also a separate consideration regardless of activity category. |
| Moderate Physical Activity | Satisfies any of: (a) ≥3 days/wk vigorous ≥20 min/day; OR (b) ≥5 days/wk moderate/walking ≥30 min/day; OR (c) ≥5 days/wk any combination accumulating ≥600 MET-min/wk. | Reported last-7-day activity pattern meets or approximates standard WHO/ACSM minimum physical activity guideline thresholds for general adult health. This is the most commonly observed category in European and North American adult IPAQ population surveys. Activity at this volume is associated in prospective cohort studies with substantially reduced risk of all-cause mortality, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease endpoints relative to the Low category. |
| High Physical Activity | Satisfies either: (a) ≥3 days/wk vigorous activity accumulating ≥1500 MET-min/wk; OR (b) ≥7 days/wk any combination accumulating ≥3000 MET-min/wk. | Reported last-7-day activity pattern substantially exceeds minimum guideline thresholds and corresponds to the upper quintile or quartile of activity volume in most general adult population samples. Large-volume activity in this range is associated in epidemiological studies with additional mortality and chronic disease risk reduction relative to the Moderate category, though the dose-response curve flattens at very high volumes and injury risk increases in susceptible individuals. |
Data Source and References
- [1] International Physical Activity Questionnaire (2002). Guidelines for Data Processing and Analysis of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) — Short and Long Forms. IPAQ Research Committee. Updated October 2005 protocol release. Official website: www.ipaq.ki.se (Karolinska Institutet, public domain download).
- [2] Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Lobelo F, Puska P, Blair SN, Katzmarzyk PT; Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group (2011). Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. The Lancet, 380(9838):219-229. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736 (12)61031-9. Global burden of disease attributable to low physical activity and reference MET-minute risk gradients.
- [3] Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, Meckes N, Bassett DR Jr, Tudor-Locke C, Greer JL, Vezina J, Whitt-Glover MC, Leon AS (2011). 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(8):1575-1581. Source of 3.3 MET walking and intensity categories referenced in IPAQ scoring coefficients.
Frequently Asked Questions
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MET-minutes per week is the standard IPAQ summary metric that combines both the intensity and duration of physical activity into a single reference quantity. One MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is defined as the rate of resting energy expenditure — approximately 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, or roughly 1 kcal per kg of body weight per hour for an average adult. Each IPAQ activity intensity level is multiplied by its standard MET coefficient: Vigorous intensity = 8.0 METs, Moderate intensity = 4.0 METs, and Walking = 3.3 METs per the 2002 IPAQ Research Committee and 2005 updated processing guidelines. Weekly minutes at each intensity are multiplied by the corresponding MET coefficient, and the three products are summed to yield total MET-minutes per week. For example, 3 days of 20 minutes of vigorous activity (60 weekly minutes) produces 60 × 8.0 = 480 MET-min/wk. MET-minutes per week enable comparison of activity volumes across different intensities consistent with WHO and ACSM physical activity reference thresholds.
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The IPAQ categorical classification follows the 2005 IPAQ Research Committee updated data processing and analysis guidelines. Low activity category: total weekly physical activity below 600 MET-minutes per week, or insufficient activity to meet Moderate or High criteria. Moderate activity category: either (a) 3 or more days of vigorous activity of at least 20 minutes per day, OR (b) 5 or more days of moderate-intensity activity or walking of at least 30 minutes per day, OR (c) 5 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate, or vigorous activities achieving a minimum total of at least 600 MET-minutes per week. High activity category: either (a) vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days achieving a minimum of at least 1500 MET-minutes per week, OR (b) 7 or more days of any combination of walking, moderate, or vigorous intensity activities achieving a minimum of at least 3000 MET-minutes per week. These are descriptive population-level reference categories for research and surveillance and do not constitute individual clinical exercise prescriptions.
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No. Standard MET-minutes per week as computed by this IPAQ Short Form implementation is a reference-level population-surveillance metric, not an individualized measure of actual energy expenditure. MET coefficients represent average approximate intensity multiples of resting metabolic rate, and do not account for inter-individual variation in body weight, body composition, age, sex, fitness level, gait mechanics, terrain, environmental conditions, genetic metabolic variation, medication effects, or other factors that materially affect actual kilocalorie or kilojoule expenditure during any specific activity. Furthermore, IPAQ relies on self-reported retrospective 7-day recall, which is subject to recall bias, social desirability bias, and overestimation of activity duration and intensity relative to device-based measures (accelerometry, pedometry, heart-rate monitors). IPAQ MET-minute outputs should therefore be interpreted as approximate reference classifications of habitual activity volume for screening and surveillance purposes only, not as precise estimates of personal energy expenditure.
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Yes. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), including both the Short Form (7 items) and the Long Form, was developed and released by the IPAQ Research Committee in 2002 as a public-domain instrument for global population-level physical activity surveillance. The official IPAQ copyright and permission statement explicitly grants worldwide, royalty-free, non-commercial and commercial permission to reproduce, translate, adapt, and use the IPAQ instruments and associated standard scoring rules without fees or license applications. The 2005 updated Guidelines for Data Processing and Analysis of the IPAQ Short and Long Forms are also publicly available from the official IPAQ website (www.ipaq.ki.se) maintained by the Karolinska Institutet without access restriction. Standard scholarly convention requires citing the original IPAQ 2002 protocol publication, the 2005 processing guidelines, and relevant validation publications when reporting IPAQ results in research or formal contexts, but this is a matter of academic attribution, not a legal license condition.