Validation Of A Food Frequency Questionnaire For Food And Nutrient Intake Of Adults In Butajira Southern Ethiopia.

Background: Food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) is the most commonly used dietaryrnassessment tool in epidemiological studies, due to ease of administration and feasibility. However,rnthe information collected by FFQ is associated with lower accuracy. For accurate interpretation ofrnthe food frequency results that arise from epidemiological studies, it needs to be compared with arnmore accurate dietary assessment method. To date, there is no culture-specific and validated FFQrnavailable in Ethiopia. rnObjective: This study aims to evaluate the validatiy of a locally developed FFQ for estimatingrnfood and nutrient intakes of adults in Butajira, southern Ethiopia. rnMethodology: We employed a community-based cross-sectional study and included a total of onernhundred fifteen adults aged 20-65 years. FFQ was developed using two sources of data; focusrngroup discussion and previous two days 24-Hour diet recall. The relative validity of the FFQ wasrnassessed against the average of two interactive 24-hour dietary recalls. Intakes of macronutrientsrn(energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat), micro-nutrients (calcium, iron, vitamin, vitamin B1, vitaminrnB2) and food groups were measured by the two methods. The validity of the FFQ was evaluatedrnby comparing estimates of specific nutrients and food groups derived from the FFQ against thern24-hour dietary recalls by calculating the mean or median difference, correlation coefficients,rncross-classification, and Bland Altman test. rnResult: Mean energy and macronutrient intakes obtained from the FFQ were significantly higherrnthan those obtained from the mean of 24-hour dietary recalls. The correlation between energy andrnmacro-nutrients measured by the two methods varies from 0.05 (Total fat) to 0.32 (carbohydrate)rnand from 0.1(calcium) to 0.49 (vitamin B1) for micronutrients. FFQ did not adequately classifyrnsubjects with respect to energy, macro-nutrients and most of the micro-nutrients. A systematicrnmean difference was observed in vitamin A and iron intake in the bland–Altman agreement test.rnFor the majority of the food groups, median differences in the intake of foods and nutrientsrnbetween 24-hour dietary recall and FFQ were, overall, small and statist ically insignificant. rnCorrelation coefficients ranged from 0.12 for an egg to 0.78 for legumes. We found that the ThernFFQ showed a fair classification agreement with the 24-hour recall for intakes of cereals, legumes,rnand roots and tubers. A systematic mean difference was observed in roots and tubers and beveragernintake in the bland–Altman agreement test. rnConclusion: The FFQ provided a good validity to assess and rank individuals in terms of intakesrnof most food groups according to high and low intake categories. Its validity could be acceptablernfor estimating energy and macro-nutrient intakes at individual basis. However, estimates ofrnminerals and vitamins should be interpreted with caution.

Get Full Work

Report copyright infringement or plagiarism