How to Access & Use These Data

Values in the Youth Compendium are listed according to 16 major categories, followed by specific activities within those categories. Each activity has a code and separate METy values for each of 4 age groups (6-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18 years).

Data are presented in two ways—smoothed values and observed/imputed values.

  • The smoothed values are estimated from the observed and imputed data and are the default values recommended for use in evaluation studies and for EE estimates by different demographic groups of children.
  • The observed/imputed values may be of greater interest to basic researchers interested in measurement of pediatric energy expenditure. Details concerning observed values, imputed values, and model-based estimates of smoothed values are given in the Methods section and in Butte et al., 2017

You can access the information on this website in multiple ways. You can:

  • Look at METy values on-screen by
    • Viewing all activities simultaneously.
    • Viewing specific activities within a major activity category. Click on the category name and the list will expand to show all activities within the category and their corresponding METy values by age group.
    • Searching for specific activities. You can search within a category or search in all categories. The search is not case-sensitive and it will look for the letters in the search box in both the Activity Category column and in the Specific Activity column. For example, if you type “active” in the search box, all activities within the Active Play category will appear, as will any specific activity that has “active” within the activity description.
  • Download the data in a file that includes activity categories, specific activities, activity codes (which include age group), and METy values. To access a specific file, go to the Download section of the website.

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  • You can use the METy values on this website to predict the energy cost of physical activities.
    • Total energy cost of a physical activity can be estimated based on the age-group specific METy value from the Youth Compendium, a measured or computed BMR, and duration of the specific activity, as follows:
    • Total energy cost (kcal) = METy x BMR (kcal/min) x duration (min).
  • BMR may be measured by indirect calorimetry or predicted from the Schofield age- and sex-specific equations. Since the Youth Compendium utilized the Schofield equations to predict BMR, these equations are suggested for consistency.

    The BMR for boys is predicted from the Schofield equations as follows:

       3–10y BMR (kcal/min) = [22.706 × Weight (kg) + 504.3]/1440

       10–18y BMR (kcal/min) = [17.686 × Weight (kg) + 658.2]/1440

    and BMR for girls is predicted from the Schofield equations as follows:

       3-10y BMR (kcal/min) = [20.315 × Weight (kg) + 485.9]/1440

       10-18y BMR (kcal/min) = [13.384 × Weight (kg) + 692.6]/1440

    Example:      What is the energy expenditure for a 14-yr-old girl (who weighs 40 kg) walking at 3 mph for 20 minutes?

       Total energy cost = METy x BMR (kcal/min) x duration (min)

          4.3 x BMR x 20 where BMR = [13.384 × 40 kg + 692.6]/1440

          4.3 x .853 x 20 = 73.3 kcal