Validity and Reproducibility of a Food Frequency Interview in a Multi-Cultural Epidemiologic Study

Mayer‐Davis, Elizabeth J.; Vitolins, Mara Z.; Carmichael, Suzan L.; Hemphill, Sandra; Tsaroucha, Georgia; Rushing, Julia; Levin, Sarah

doi:10.1016/s1047-2797(98)00070-2

Cited by 259 publications

(229 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The correlations in the present study were stronger than those in another study on participants with low education levels 8 . This might be due to the methods of administration of the FFQ, as that study was conducted by telephone rather than with face-to-face interviews.…”

Section: Females Malescontrasting

confidence: 96%

Comparative validation of standard, picture-sort and meal-based food-frequency questionnaires adapted for an elderly population of low socio-economic status

Quandt

Vitolins

Smith

et al. 2007

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To compare the validity of a modified Block food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ), a picture-sort administration of the FFQ (PSFFQ) and a meal pattern-based questionnaire (MPQ) in a multi-ethnic population of low socio-economic status (SES). Design: Participants completed six 24-hour dietary recalls (24HR) over six months; the FFQ, PSFFQ and MPQ were completed in random order in the subsequent month. Instruments were interviewer-administered. The PSFFQ and MPQ were developed in formative research concerning difficulties for older adults in responding to standard food-frequency instruments. Setting: Rural North Carolina, USA. Subjects: One hundred and twenty-two African American, Native American and white adults aged $ 65 years, with approximately one-third in each ethnic group. Inclusion criteria included education # 12 years and income # 150% of national poverty level or Medicaid recipient. Results: Comparing median intakes from the average of the 24HR with the three diet assessment instruments, the MPQ tended to overestimate intakes compared with the FFQ and PSFFQ. Correlations among nutrients obtained by the 24HR and the other three instruments were generally statistically significant and positive. Across nutrients, the PSFFQ was most highly correlated with the 24HR for women, while the FFQ was most highly correlated with the 24HR for men. Conclusions: Dietary assessments using 24HR and FFQ were similar to results reported elsewhere, although correlations between 24HR and FFQ were somewhat lower. Interviewer-administered dietary assessments should be used with caution to evaluate dietary intake among older adults with low SES. Gender differences and the lower correlations should be investigated more thoroughly to assist in choosing dietary assessment instruments for this population. Attempts to reduce health disparities in diet-related chronic diseases and their risk factors require valid and reliable diet assessment tools that can be used in diverse segments of the population. The most commonly used measures in epidemiological studies are food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs), as they can reflect long-term intake, have relatively low respondent burden, and can be either self-or interviewer-administered. The FFQ technique poses a mental challenge for some respondents, asking them to compute averages of what may be seasonally or otherwise varied intake 1 . This is likely to be more problematic for some groups than others. Validation studies of the most commonly used FFQs have generally been conducted with well-educated groups of white women and men 2 -4 . Correlation coefficients with estimates of nutrient intake collected from multiple days of diet recalls or records typically range from 0.40 to 0.70. These values have been accepted as indicative of the ability of the FFQ to rank individuals correctly according to categories of nutrient intake 5 . However, validation data from other populations (e.g. minority, low education) are scarce. Population subgroups with low socio-economic status (SES)...

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Section: Females Malescontrasting

confidence: 96%

Comparative validation of standard, picture-sort and meal-based food-frequency questionnaires adapted for an elderly population of low socio-economic status

Quandt

Vitolins

Smith

et al. 2007

Public Health Nutr.

Self Cite

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“…Similar to other studies (23)(24)(25) , a low correlation was observed for vitamin E in the validation of the QFFQ against food diaries.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Validation of a quantitative FFQ for the Barbados National Cancer Study

Pakseresht

Sharma

Cao

et al. 2010

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To assess the validity of a 148-item quantitative FFQ (QFFQ) that was developed for the Barbados National Cancer Study (BNCS) to determine dietary intake over 12 months and examine the dietary risk factors. Design: A cross-sectional validation study of the QFFQ against 4 d food diaries. Spearman's rank correlations (r), intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and weighted k were computed as measures of concordance, adjusting for daily variations in the food diaries. Cross-classification tables and Bland-Altman plots were created for further assessment. Setting: BNCS is a case-control study of environmental risk factors for breast and prostate cancer in a predominantly African-origin population in Barbados. Subjects: Fifty-four individuals (21 years and older) were recruited among controls in the BNCS who were frequency-matched on sex and age group to breast and prostate cancer cases. Results: Similar mean daily energy intake was derived from the food diary (8201 kJ (1960 kcal)) and QFFQ (7774 kJ (1858 kcal)). Rho for energy and macronutrients ranged from 0?66 (energy) to 0?17 (dietary fibre). The percentage of energy from carbohydrates and protein showed the highest and lowest ICC among macronutrients (0?63 and 0?27, respectively). The highest weighted k was observed for energy (0?45). When the nutrient intake was divided into quartiles, approximately 34 % of the observations were in the same quartile. Conclusions: This investigation supports the validity of the QFFQ as a method for assessing long-term dietary intake except for dietary fibre, folate, vitamins A, E and B 12 . The instrument will be a useful tool in the analysis of diet-cancer associations in the BNCS. Keywords Quantitative FFQ Food diary Validity Barbados National Cancer StudyThe Barbados National Cancer Study (BNCS) is a populationbased case-control study designed to examine the genetic and environmental risk factors for breast and prostate cancer in a predominantly African-origin population. The importance of nutrition-related factors and growing interest in the role of nutrient-gene interactions in cancer aetiology necessitates the development of a valid method for assessing long-term dietary intake. Studies on the association between diet and cancer have not been performed in Barbados, West Indies, likely due, in part, to the lack of a validated method to assess long-term dietary intake.To fill this gap, a 148-item quantitative FFQ (QFFQ) was developed to determine dietary intake and to examine hypotheses related to diet and its interaction with genes and cancer in African-Barbadians (1) . QFFQ is commonly used in large-scale epidemiological studies and provides a feasible approach to assess the usual long-term dietary intake of a population (2) . Only valid instruments provide correct estimates of diet and diet-cancer associations. Although a gold standard to validate QFFQ currently does not exist, its validity is evaluated by comparing the results of these instruments to those using other dietary assessment methods or ...

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“…Resembling our study, research by Mayer-Davis et al (1999) revealed lower non-adjusted correlation coefficients in the group with lower education (mean of r ¼ 0.30) when compared with the one with higher education (mean of r ¼ 0.57). Lipid, for example, presented r ¼ 0.05 in the individuals with less than 12 years of study and r ¼ 0.59 in the ones with more than 12 years.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

The influence of education in the validation process of a food frequency questionnaire for adults in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

et al. 2006

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Objective: To evaluate the educational influence in the relative validation of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQs) for adults in the city of Viçosa, Brazil. Design and subjects: Four 24-h dietary recalls (reference method) were applied to a sample of 94 adults of both genders, at intervals of 1 month. At the end of the study, an FFQs consisting of 58 food items was also applied. Then, the individuals were divided into two main groups according to their educational level (lower and higher). The dietary data were calculated by the Diet Pro 4.0 software and analyzed according to differences of means or medians and Pearson's correlation coefficients. These coefficients were adjusted by the energy and corrected by the within-person variance for each educational group, considering the extreme quartiles of the data distribution. Results: The intake of energy and nutrients, based on the 24 h dietary recalls, was inferior for the lower educational group (Po0.05). For the FFQs, just the protein and calcium intakes were statistically different, suggesting interference of the education variable in this assessment. Overestimations in the FFQs were identified in the analyses of means and medians for vitamin C and retinol intakes in the lower education group and for retinol in the higher education one. However, when evaluated by correlation coefficients non-adjusted and adjusted, they were well correlated. On the other hand, lipid (r ¼ 0.34) and calcium (r ¼ 0.13) coefficients of the group with less instruction showed beneath the desirable values, suggesting weak consistence of the estimates provided by the FFQs for these nutrients. Correlation means of r ¼ 0.65 and 0.54 were found for the higher and lower educational groups, respectively. Conclusions:The results indicate that FFQs showed acceptable performance on evaluating the habitual food consumption for most of the nutrients in the studied population. A tendency for better quantifications in the groups with higher education was observed, inferring its influence in the assessment of the dietary intake. Sponsorship: CAPES -Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de nível superior.

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Validity and Reproducibility of a Food Frequency Interview in a Multi-Cultural Epidemiologic Study

Cited by 259 publications

References 19 publications

Comparative validation of standard, picture-sort and meal-based food-frequency questionnaires adapted for an elderly population of low socio-economic status

Comparative validation of standard, picture-sort and meal-based food-frequency questionnaires adapted for an elderly population of low socio-economic status

Validation of a quantitative FFQ for the Barbados National Cancer Study

The influence of education in the validation process of a food frequency questionnaire for adults in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

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