Reproducibility of Reports of Frequency of Food Use in the Tecumseh Diet Methodology Study

Abstract

Frequency reports in 1967-1969 for 83 foods were compared to frequency reports for the same foods asked retrospectively in 1982-1983 about use in 1967-1969 for 1,184 respondents aged 45-64 in the Tecumseh Community Health Study cohort. Food frequency reports of the current (1982-1983) diet were also compared to baseline reports to indicate diet stability and to retrospective reports to indicate the influence of current diet on retrospective reporting. Comparisons were also made for 13 food groups and vitamin A and C indices. Short-term reproducibility of seven foods, measured by two reports 1-3 weeks apart in 1967-1969, was compared to long-term reproducibility for the same foods. Short-term reproducibility was consistently greater than long-term. Reproducibility was associated positively with stability of use. For the two nutrient indices and nine of the ten food groups examined, mean intake estimated from the retrospective report differed significantly from mean intake from the baseline report. Agreement between retrospective and current reports exceeded agreement between retrospective and baseline reports, indicating that retrospective reports were greatly influenced by current behavior; yet, the retrospective reports were better indicators of baseline consumption than were the current reports. While misclassification from use of the retrospective report to measure baseline consumption was large, risk differences may still be detected with usual sample sizes.

Potential early-life predictors of dietary behaviour in adulthood: a retrospective study

“…Inevitably, some studies show that current diet may influence the reporting of a recalled diet. 48,50,51 However, in relation to this evidence, it is worth noting that previous studies have focused solely on instances where the original dietary record was taken in adulthood. Therefore, the extent to which current diet can influence recall of childhood diet remains to be established.…”

“…Various studies indicate that retrospective measures of diet are not only reliable 46 but are also typically better than assessments of current diet at predicting diet in the distant past 47,48 (for a review see Friedenreich et al 49 ). Inevitably, some studies show that current diet may influence the reporting of a recalled diet.…”

¿Es la etnia mapuche un factor de riesgo para padecer fractura de fémur proximal en adultos mayores?

“…Los estudios de casos y controles son muy susceptibles a sesgo, por ejemplo en esta investigación existió un marcado sesgo de recuerdo considerando la edad avanzada de los sujetos. La revisión bibliográfica evidenció la escasa validez de las encuestas retrospectivas de frecuencia de ingesta de alimentos o uso de fármacos en estudios de casos y controles 27,28 . Sin embargo, este sesgo afecta por igual a casos y controles.…”

Reprodutibilidade de informações em estudo de fatores de risco para o diabetes mellitus insulino-dependente

“…Uma característica de toda medida válida é sua capacidade de repetição ou reprodutibilidade. A verificação da validade de informações relativas aos hábitos alimentares é dificultada pela ausência de um padrão, porém, se informações repetidas para um mesmo indivíduo são disponíveis, a reprodutibilidade pode ser examinada 13 . Boa reprodutibilidade não substitui boa validade, mas é também, uma característica desejável em questionários; em pesquisa de campo, todavia, as condições para sua mensuração não são ideais e trazem dificuldade para sua interpretação.…”