A meta-analysis of the reproducibility of food frequency questionnaires in nutritional epidemiological studies

Abstract

Background Reproducibility of FFQs measures the consistency of the same subject at different time points. We performed a meta-analysis to explore the reproducibility of FFQs and factors related to reproducibility of FFQs. Methods and findings A systematic literature review was performed before July 2020 using PubMed and Web of Science databases. Pooled intraclass and Spearman correlation coefficients (95% confidence interval) were calculated to assess the reproducibility of FFQs. Subgroup analyses based on characteristics of study populations, FFQs, or study design were performed to investigate factors related to the reproducibility of FFQs. A total of 123 studies comprising 20,542 participants were eligible for the meta-analysis. The pooled crude intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.499 to 0.803 and 0.499 to 0.723 for macronutrients and micronutrients, respectively. Energy-adjusted intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.420 to 0.803 and 0.507 to 0.712 for macronutrients and micronutrients, respectively. The pooled crude and energy-adjusted Spearman correlation coefficients ranged from 0.548 to 0.851 and 0.441 to 0.793, respectively, for macronutrients; and from 0.573 to 0.828 and 0.510 to 0.744, respectively, for micronutrients. FFQs with more food items, 12 months as dietary recall interval (compared to less than 12 months), and a shorter time period between repeated FFQs resulted in superior FFQ reproducibility. Conclusions In conclusion, FFQs with correlation coefficients greater than 0.5 for most nutrients may be considered a reliable tool to measure dietary intake. To develop FFQs with higher reproducibility, the number of food items and dietary recall interval should be taken into consideration.

Validity and Reproducibility of a Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Macro and Micro-Nutrient Intake among a Convenience Cohort of Healthy Adult Qataris

“…In a meta-analysis of the reproducibility of food frequency questionnaires, Cui and colleagues suggested that FFQs with a minimum correlation coefficient of 0.5 for most nutrients may be considered reliable [26]. According to this criterion, we regard our FFQ to be reliable in general, with an average reliability coefficient of 0.625 for all nutrients, and higher than 0.5 for most nutrients except for vitamins A and K, zinc, iodine, chromium, and fluorine.…”

“…Previous studies collected FFQs with a one-year interval. Since limited reproducibility of FFQ is a known limitation of this method [26], we administered the two FFQs at a one-month interval to reduce intra-individual and seasonal variations in dietary choices. However, FFQ2 tended to overestimate nutrient intakes compared to FFQ1 and 24hDR for both macronutrients and micronutrients in our study.…”

Cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos para niños de zonas rurales costeras del Ecuador: Construcción, validez relativa y calibración

“…Utilizando las recomendaciones y los métodos aplicados en otras investigaciones, nuestros resultados mostraron una concordancia débil y moderada para los nutrientes analizados y concordancia negativa para uno de ellos. Estos resultados concuerdan con otros estudios 14,34,35,36 . Un meta-análisis de 67 artículos publicados entre 1988 y 2019, evidenció que 55 utilizaron un único método de evaluación dietética, nueve combinaron métodos y tres utilizaron tres métodos de referencia; siendo el R24h el método más utilizado seguido del registro de alimentos 36 .…”

“…Estos resultados concuerdan con otros estudios 14,34,35,36 . Un meta-análisis de 67 artículos publicados entre 1988 y 2019, evidenció que 55 utilizaron un único método de evaluación dietética, nueve combinaron métodos y tres utilizaron tres métodos de referencia; siendo el R24h el método más utilizado seguido del registro de alimentos 36 . La validez relativa para niños y adolescentes fue considerada débil 13 , sin embargo, otros estudios reportan correlaciones superiores a 0,80 37,38 .…”

Implementation of Blockchain Technology in the Tourism Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The authors excluded the other documents such as note, letter, conference article/review, editorials, interviews, etc. (Leonidou, et al, 2018;Christofi, et al, 2019;Cui, et al, 2021). Also, articles not published in English and duplicates were eliminated.…”