Sedentary behavior is highly prevalent worldwide and is associated with a wide range of chronic diseases and premature mortality. It can be identified through self-reporting by individuals or specific physical activity questionnaires, such as the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF). Although it is a validated instrument, your results depend on the accurate reporting of activities performed in the past week, which may be a confounding factor at the time of application.

To analyze the agreement between self-reported sedentary behavior and the IPAQ-SF in healthy adult men and women.

This is a cross-sectional observational study comprising 204 healthy individuals aged between 18 and 59 years. Initially, all participants were asked about their self-perception of physical activity level, classifying themselves as sedentary or physically active. Subsequently, they completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF), in which they reported the intensity, duration, and frequency of physical activities performed in the last week. Based on the IPAQ-SF responses, individuals were categorized into five groups: (1) very active, (2) active, (3) irregularly active A, (4) irregularly active B, and (5) sedentary. Cohen&apos;s Kappa coefficient was used to quantify the level of agreement between self-reporting and IPAQ-SF classifications. The analysis was stratified by sex, and the significance level was set at p < 0.05.

A total of 204 volunteers participated in the study, of whom 56% were women (35.4 ± 12.5 years, 67.5 ± 13.0 kg, and 1.63 ± 0.06 m) and 44% were men (33.1 ± 12.0 years, 82.3 ± 14.8 kg, and 1.77 ± 0.07 m). Based on self-perception, 31% of men and 43% of women considered themselves sedentary. However, only 7.14% of men and 10.2% of women were classified as sedentary by the IPAQ-SF, indicating low agreement between the methods. Among men who self-identified as sedentary, 21.42% were classified as irregularly active B, 14.28% as irregularly active A, 35.71% as active, and 7.14% as very active according to the IPAQ-SF. Among women, 28.57% were classified as irregularly active B, 16.32% as irregularly active A, 28.57% as active, and 16.32% as very active.

There is low agreement between self-reported sedentary behavior and the classification obtained through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF) in healthy adults.

Many individuals who considered themselves sedentary were classified by the questionnaire as physically active at different levels, indicating a discrepancy between subjective perception and objective criteria for assessing physical activity. These differences may be related to individual interpretations of the concept of sedentary behavior or inaccurate recall of physical activity practices when completing the questionnaire.