Self-Administered Diet History Questionnaire Developed for Health Education: A Relative Validation of The Test-Version by Comparison with 3-Day Diet Record in Women

TLDR

A self‑administered diet history questionnaire was developed for use in health education in Japan. The study examined the relative validity of the questionnaire by comparing it to a 3‑day diet record. The comparison involved 47 mildly hypercholesterolemic women aged 38‑69 in Hikone, Japan, who completed the questionnaire and a 3‑day diet record. The questionnaire produced nutrient estimates within 1–25% of the 3‑day diet record, with higher accuracy for macronutrients (1–3%) than micronutrients, and correlation coefficients ranging from 0.16 to 0.60 (mean 0.41) that improved to 0.19–0.75 (mean 0.48) after energy adjustment; 37% of participants were classified into the same quartile and 6% into opposite quartiles, indicating the tool is useful for assessing individual nutrient intake in this population.

Abstract

A self-administered diet history questionnaire has been developed for the use in health education in Japan. The relative validity of the test-version was examined using 3-day diet record (DR) as a reference method. Subjects were mildly hypercholesterolemic 47 women aged 38-69 years living in Hikone, Japan. The questionnaire provided close estimation of nutrients compared to the DR (mean of the 3-days), 1-25% differences between the two methods were observed for total energy and 17 nutrients examined. The differences were in general smaller for macronutrients, 1-3%, than for micronutrients, 1-25%. Pearson correlation coefficients between the questionnaire and the DR (mean of the 3-days) ranged from 0.16 for niacin to 0.60 for saturated fatty acid (mean = 0.41). The energy-adjustment using regression analysis and the correction of attenuation due to error from a limited number of days of DR slightly improved the results. The correlations ranged from 0.19 for niacin to 0.75 for saturated fatty acid (mean = 0.48). Average 37 and 6% subjects were classified into same quartile and opposite quartile respectively between the two methods. This questionnaire may be useful to assess individual nutrient intake level at least for the subjects examined.