A Simple Food Frequency Questionnaire for Japanese Diet-Part I. Development of the Questionnaire, and Reproducibility and Validity for Food Groups

We evaluated the performance of a 22-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) administered in 1980-81 to 3,005 members of the Adult Health Study cohort, part of the Life Span Study. The questionnaire was compared with the records of a 24-hour dietary survey that was performed in 1984-85. From the dietary records, food and nutrient intakes were estimated. The association between the two measures of dietary intake was assessed using Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The frequency of food intake as measured by the FFQ was linearly associated with food intake as measured by the 24-hour diary, with the exception of dry fish. The highest correlations were observed for beverages, including coffee (0.51), milk (0.32) and black tea (0.26). Foods such as fruit (0.27), confectionery (0.23), rice (0.34) and bread (0.28) were also moderately correlated. These results show that, with the exception of dry fish, the FFQ is moderately correlated with the 24-hour diary and can be used to assess diet intake in this cohort. J Epidemiol2002;12:394-401.Key words: food frequency questionnaire, validity, dietary record, JapanThe development of methods to measure habitual, long-term dietary intake in epidemiologic studies has been a considerable challenge over the past two decades. The semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is the method most commonly used, and usually includes questions on the average frequency of consumption during the past year for a given number of food items. In order to evaluate the performance of a FFQ, dietary intake is often compared with a more objective or detailed measurement, such as biomarkers, an interviewer-assisted 24-hour recall, or self-reported dietary records.The Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan is following the Life Span Study cohort, a large cohort of atomic-bomb survivors recruited in 1958.1 Several mail surveys have been carried out to examine lifestyle factors among the Life Span Study cohort members2-4 and a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire based on the frequency of consumption of 22 dietary items (FFQ22) was conducted in 1980-81. Since then, two decades have passed and the number of chronic diseases cases among the respondents has become sufficient to allow statistical analysis. Recently, three studies on diet and cancer have been published, based on the questionnaire.5-7 However, the validity of the FFQ22 was not considered in these reports, since no study has been specifically designed to measure its per-

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“…19 In addition, the foods that are eaten more frequently are better estimated than foods eaten less frequently.21…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Life Span Study.

Sauvaget

Allen

Hayashi

et al. 2002

Journal of Epidemiology

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“…For the Japanese population, Wakai et al 29 examined the validity and reproducibility of 20 food group intakes assessed by a 97-item FFQ. Median (range) of correlation coefficients with the DRs was 0.56 (0.16 for noodles to 0.83 for milk and dairy products).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a food-frequency questionnaire for cohort studies in rural Japan

Ogawa

Tsubono

Nishino

et al. 2003

Public Health Nutr.

134

117

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Objectives: To examine the validity and reproducibility of a self-administered foodfrequency questionnaire (FFQ) used for two cohort studies in Japan. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Two rural towns in the Miyagi Prefecture, in north-eastern Japan. Subjects: Fifty-five men and 58 women. Results: A 40-item FFQ was administered twice, 1 year apart. In the mean time, four 3-day diet records (DRs) were collected in four seasons within the year. We calculated daily consumption of total energy and 15 nutrients, 40 food items and nine food groups from the FFQs and the DRs. We computed Spearman correlation coefficients between the FFQs and the DRs. With adjustment for age, total energy and deattenuation for measurement error with the DRs, the correlation coefficients for nutrient intakes ranged from 0.25 to 0.58 in men and from 0.30 to 0.69 in women, with median of 0.43 and 0.43, respectively. Median (range) of the correlation coefficients was 0.35 (2 0.30 to 0.72) in men and 0.34 (2 0.06 to 0.75) in women for food items and 0.60 (20.10 to 0.76) and 0.51 (0.28 -0.70) for food groups, respectively. Median (range) of the correlation coefficients for the two FFQs administered 1 year apart was 0.49 (0.31-0.71) in men and 0.50 (0.40-0.64) in women for nutrients, 0.43 (0.14 -0.76) and 0.45 (0.06-0.74) respectively for food items, and 0.50 (0.30 -0.70) and 0.57 (0.39-0.66) respectively for food groups. Relatively higher agreement percentages for intakes of nutrients and food groups with high validity were obtained together with lower complete disagreement percentages. Conclusions: The FFQ has a high reproducibility and a reasonably good validity, and is useful in assessing the usual intakes of nutrients, foods and food groups among a rural Japanese population.

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“…We obtained not so large correlation coefficients for macronutrients. This may be largely due to probable measurement errors, since macronutrients, protein in particular, have multiple sources 10,29).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Simple Food Frequency Questionnaire for Japanese Diet-Part II. Reproducibility and Validity for Nutrient Intakes.

Egami

Wakai

Kato

et al. 1999

Journal of Epidemiology

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A self-administered 97-item simple food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), without portion size questions for most items, was completed twice at an one-year interval by 88 men and women in central Japan to evaluate its reproducibility. This FFQ was further validated by referring to four 4-day weighed dietary records (DRs) which were performed at 3-month intervals. Mean energy and 18 nutrient intakes measured by the first and the second FFQs were quite similar to those measured by the DRs. In our reproducibility study, Pearson and intraclass correlation coefficients, adjusted for energy intake, sex and age, ranged from 0.48 to 0.82 (median =0.67). In the validation study, adjusted and de-attenuated correlation coefficients between the second FFQ and the DRs ranged from 0.42 for iron to 0.83 for calcium (median=0.61). The proportion of subjects classified by the FFQ into the same or adjacent quintiles defined by the DRs was between 65.9% and 83.0% (median=69.9%). These findings essentially suggested that our FFQ is well reproducible and sufficiently valid, and therefore, reasonably useful for nutritional epidemiological studies for Japanese diets, particularly for those of Tokai Area. J Epidemiol, 1999; 9 : 227-234.reproducibility, validity, nutrient, food frequency questionnaire, Japan Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) have been commonly used in nutritional epidemiology to assess individual intakes of food and nutrients. They can easily cover a larger period than dietary records (DRs) or recalls at much lower cost even in large populations1).However, since FFQs would be less valid than detailed DRs, then energy and nutrient intakes, when estimated by a certain FFQ, should usually be validated". Only a few validation study for FFQs, however, have been conducted in Japan7-9). Recently, we have developed a self-administered, 97-item simple food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), without portion size questions for most items, for epidemiological survey in the middle-aged and the older10). In the present study, we aimed to assess reproducibility and validity of this FFQ in terms of nutrients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Design and SubjectsThe design of this validation study has been described in the preceding paper10>. In short, 119 subjects aged 41 to 88 years, were recruited from the family members of students/graduates of the dietitian course. They completed our self-administered FFQ twice at an one-year interval in order to evaluate the reproducibility (the first and the second FFQ are denoted hereafter as FFQ1 and FFQ2). Along with this reproducibility study, the FFQ was validated by referring to four 4-day weighed dietary records (DRs) which were performed at 3-month intervals. Of the 119 subjects, 88 (73.9%, 46 men and 42 women) completed the two FFQs and the four 4-day DRs, and were included in the analysis.The FFQ was designed to assess diets during preceding one year, and to rank individuals according to their nutrient intakes.

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A Simple Food Frequency Questionnaire for Japanese Diet-Part I. Development of the Questionnaire, and Reproducibility and Validity for Food Groups

Cited by 60 publications

References 18 publications

Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Life Span Study.

Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Life Span Study.

Validation of a food-frequency questionnaire for cohort studies in rural Japan

A Simple Food Frequency Questionnaire for Japanese Diet-Part II. Reproducibility and Validity for Nutrient Intakes.

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