Dietary assessment in the elderly: validation of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire

Abstract

Objective: The study was conducted to assess the relative validity of a 170-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (SFFQ) adapted for use in the elderly. Design and subjects: The study was carried out in a sample of 80 men and women aged 55±75 y participating in a community based prospective cohort study in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The two-step dietary assessment comprised a simple self-administered questionnaire (20 min) followed by a structured interview with trained dietitians (20 min) based on the completed questionnaire. Multiple food records (FR) collected over a one year period served as reference method. 24 h urine urea was used as indirect marker for protein intake. Results: Compared with FR, the SFFQ generally overestimated nutrient intake as re¯ected by difference in means and the ratio of SFFQ to FR. Energy adjustment reduced the observed overestimation. Pearson's correlation coef®cients varied from close to 0.5 to about 0.9 for crude data, and after adjustment for age, sex, total energy intake, and for within-person variability in daily intake for 0.4±0.8. Cross-classi®cation into quintiles resulted in correct classi®cation into the same or adjacent quintile of 75.8% for crude and 76.8% for energyadjusted data. Validation of protein intake estimated by SFFQ with protein excretion from 24 h urine urea indicated overestimation of protein intake by SFFQ. Spearman correlation coef®cient between protein intake estimated from urea excretion and SFFQ was 0.67. Conclusions: Adaptation of a SFFQ for use in the elderly resulted in a valid and time-ef®cient dietary assessment instrument. Its ability to adequately rank study subjects according to their dietary intake support its application in epidemiological studies in the elderly.

CHD risk in relation to alcohol intake from categorical and open-ended dietary instruments

“…The consistency of the 7DD, HLQ and FFQ in the present analysis of alcohol and risk of CHD is aligned with the results of previous validation studies, in which good agreement was found among self-reported instruments (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31) . Some of the correlation between self-reported instruments may be attributable to within-person error (32) .…”

Validation of a semi-quantitative FFQ using food records as a reference in older women in the Kuopio Fracture Prevention Study (OSTPRE-FPS)

“…The total number of women in the study was 3432, of whom 750 were randomly selected for a subsample participating in detailed examinations including measurement of bone mineral density and dietary records and FFQ. Dietary data used in the present study were collected at study year 3 …”

“…Few studies have estimated the use and validity of FFQ in nutrient intake estimation in elderly populations (1)(2)(3) . However, determining nutrient intakes is critical in examining the effect of nutrition on health and disease.…”

The T-13910C polymorphism in the lactase phlorizin hydrolase gene is associated with differences in serum calcium levels and calcium intake

“…Second, a dietary assessment was done by a dietician during a visit of the subject to the research facility that took place about 22 days after the first step. (21) …”