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

Abstract

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-

Validation of an FFQ to assess antioxidant intake in overweight postmenopausal women

“…These validation data were generally comparable to those reported by previous studies using food records as a 'gold standard' reference method. Correlations observed between these two assessment tools were within the ranges noted by other investigators, from 0?27 to 0?71 for vitamin C (33)(34)(35)(36)(37) , from 0?33 to 0?75 for vitamin E (38)(39)(40) and from 0?14 to 0?38 for total carotenoids and respective subclasses (41,42) . Additionally, since the correlation analysis for testing validity has been questioned for its failure in measuring agreement (30,43) , Bland-Altman plots and cross-classification were used in the present study to bridge this gap (44) .…”

Validation of an FFQ to assess short-term antioxidant intake against 30 d food records and plasma biomarkers

“…Furthermore, correlation coefficients for antioxidant intakes in the present FFQ were comparable to those previously measured by either whole-food FFQ or brief FFQ for specific antioxidants. For instance, vitamin C correlation was relatively low but within the range of 0?27 to 0?71 reported by previous studies using FR as a reference (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43) and was similar to or higher than those in FFQ with 1-month reference period. Correlation coefficients for carotenoid subclasses were generally higher than those from preceding FFQ (44,45) .…”

Vegetables and fruit intake and cancer mortality in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Life Span Study

“…The validation of the questionnaire showed only moderate correlations with the 24-h diary used as reference method (Sauvaget et al, 2002). Also, the dietary questionnaire did not include information on portion sizes and was limited to certain foods, so total energy and nutrient intakes could not be calculated.…”

“…The validity of the food-frequency questionnaire has been previously reported (Sauvaget et al, 2002).…”

“…A subanalysis showed that the mean intake of those with missing data on green-yellow vegetables and fruit consumption was similar to the intake of those who ate these foods once per week or less (Sauvaget et al, 2002). We therefore included participants with missing data with those who stated intake of fruit and vegetables as once per week or less (3465 persons with missing information on vegetables frequency intake, and 2257 persons on fruit intake).…”