Validation of a Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire for Argentinean Adults

Objective: To assess the reproducibility and validity among adults in the Southern Cone of Latin America (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) of a self-administered FFQ to be used in the CESCAS I Study, an ongoing observational prospective cohort study to detect and follow up CVD and their risk factors, as well as in other epidemiological studies. Design: Relative validity of the FFQ was evaluated by comparing nutrient and selected food group intakes with those from three 24 h recalls (24HR) administered over 6 months. The FFQ was administered at baseline (FFQ1) and again after 3 months (FFQ2). Setting: Primary-care centres in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Subjects: Adults (n 147) aged 21-74 years. Results: Reproducibility (FFQ1 v. FFQ2): the intra-class correlation coefficients for nutrients ranged from 0?52 (potassium) to 0?74 (fat). Validity (FFQ1 v. the average of three 24HR): the Pearson correlations for energy-adjusted nutrients ranged from 0?39 (thiamin and cholesterol) to 0?59 (carbohydrate). Joint classification: overall, 66 % of participants in the lowest 24HR quintile were in the lowest one or two FFQ1 quintiles, and 62 % of those in the highest 24HR quintile were in the highest one or two FFQ1 quintiles. On average, only 4 % were misclassified into extreme quintiles. Conclusions: The FFQ version for the Southern Cone seems to present moderate to acceptable relative validity and reliability for its use in the CESCAS I Study to measure dietary exposure.Keywords FFQ Validity Reproducibility Southern Cone of Latin America CVD are increasing throughout the world and cause 16?7 million deaths each year, 80 % of which occur in lowand middle-income countries. Most cardiovascular risk in the Southern Cone of Latin America (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) could be explained by tobacco use, abnormal lipids, abdominal obesity and high blood pressure, as shown in the INTERHEART Latin American study that included 3125 cases and controls from different Latin American countries (1) . In Argentina, recent estimates have shown that there were more than 600 000 disabilityadjusted life years and almost 400 000 years of potential life lost due to CHD and stroke in 2005. Modifiable risk factors explained 75?0 % of fatal and non-fatal acute CHD and stroke events, 75?5 % of costs for acute events and 70?7 % of disability-adjusted life years lost (2) .Nutritional exposures are considered risk factors for CVD as well as other non-communicable and infectious diseases (3,4) . FFQ are often used in epidemiological studies to investigate the relationship between diet and disease because they are easy to administer, less expensive than other methods and can, at least theoretically, assess dietary intake over an extended period of time (5) . Usually FFQ are not considered an appropriate method of estimating actual nutrient intakes of individuals, but they can be used to rank people according to their intake. This information is useful to categorize nutritional exposures for epidemiological studies (6) .FFQ may be administered by tr...

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, several FFQ were developed to assess dietary intakes in adult populations and some of them have been tested by assessing validity, reproducibility or both (9)(10)(11)(12) . To our knowledge, no validation study of a self-administered FFQ has been conducted on adult populations in the Southern Cone of Latin America.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a self-administered FFQ in adults in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay

Elorriaga

Irazola²,

Defagó³

et al. 2014

“…We found significant and moderate crude correlations between the FFQ and FR for food groups and macronutrients, and similar correlation coefficients have been reported by previous studies (16,(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39) . When intake was expressed as an energy percentage, there was good agreement in intake levels between the FFQ and FR, corroborating the notion that FFQ generally perform better if macronutrient intake is expressed as an energy percentage (40) .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Development and validation of an electronic FFQ to assess food intake in the Slovene population

Bizjak

Jenko-Pražnikar

Seljak

2013

Objective: To develop and validate an electronic FFQ that estimates the food and nutrient intakes, especially fat intake, in a healthy, adult population from the coastal (Mediterranean) part of Slovenia. Design: A new electronic FFQ was developed for a survey entitled 'A multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of obesity', conducted at the University of Primorska, and validated against a 3 d weighed food record (FR). Setting: Coastal region of Slovenia. Subjects: Our study population included eighty-five healthy adults aged 25-49 years, recruited from the local coastal region of Slovenia. Intakes of food groups, macronutrients and energy, estimated by the FR and the FFQ, were compared using correlation coefficients, cross-classification and Bland-Altman plots. Results: The mean value of most nutrient intakes tended to be higher in the FFQ compared with the FR, except for carbohydrate, fibre and energy. Regression analysis demonstrated an acceptable agreement between the FFQ and FR. The FFQ was moderately correlated with the FR (0?30-0?54), and most of the correlations increased after energy adjustment and after de-attenuation. Relatively high (more than 70 %) proportions of participants were correctly classified into the same or an adjacent quartile. Bland-Altman analysis confirmed an acceptable level of agreement between the two methods. Conclusions: The electronic FFQ, developed for a healthy adult Slovene population from the coastal region, was shown to be a valid tool to assess food group and nutrient intakes, especially fat intakes, and to rank individuals by their intakes within gene-nutrient studies.

“…There is no gold standard to develop or validate an FFQ, but multiple 24 h recalls are used as a reference method by 75 % of validation studies (13) . Although several validated questionnaires that have been adapted for cultural variations are currently in use in Latin America (12,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) , to our knowledge, no FFQ had previously been developed and validated for the Ecuadorian population. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to assess the reliability and validity of an FFQ designed to evaluate the usual nutrient intake of the adult population of the Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador, during the past year.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

FFQ for the adult population of the capital of Ecuador (FFQ-Quito): development, reliability and validity

Silva-Jaramillo

Neutzling

Drehmer

2015

Objective: To assess the reliability and validity of a semi-quantitative FFQ designed to evaluate the usual nutrient intake of adults in Quito, Ecuador. Design: Dietary data using 24 h recalls (24hR) were used to design a list of commonly consumed foods. The relative validity of a 111-item FFQ was evaluated by comparing nutrient intakes against three non-consecutive 24hR. All nutrients were energy-adjusted. Reliability was assessed using two FFQ (FFQ1 and FFQ2) and assessed by the intra-class correlation coefficient. The comparisons between the FFQ and the 24hR were assessed by the de-attenuated Pearson correlation coefficient, weighted kappa and by Bland-Altman plots. Setting: Quito, Ecuador. Subjects: Overall, 345 adults were enrolled in the present study. Two hundred and fifty participated in FFQ development and ninety-five participated in the FFQ validity and reliability. Results: The FFQ produced higher energy and nutrient intakes. Reliability correlation coefficients after adjusting for energy ranged from 0·62 to 0·88 for protein and Ca, respectively. For the validity study, energy-adjusted and de-attenuated correlation coefficients between the questionnaire and the 24hR ranged from 0·21 for fat to 0·65 for Ca. Only 4 % of the participants were grossly misclassified and 46 % had weighted kappa higher than 0·42. The Bland-Altman plot showed a constant bias with a tendency to increase according to the intake level. Conclusions: The FFQ showed reasonably good relative validity and reliable measurements, especially for nutrients considered protective and risk markers of non-communicable disease, and can be used to assess usual nutrient intake in this population.