Reliability and Validity of an FFQ for South American Children and Adolescents from the SAYCARE Study

Overview

Journal Public Health Nutr

Publisher Cambridge University Press

Date 2019 Sep 13

PMID 31511116

Citations 11

Authors

Tara Rendo-Urteaga

Luisa Saravia

Tatiana Sadalla Collese

Julia Maria Monsalve-Alvarez

Laura Ines Gonzalez-Zapata

Florencia Tello

Beatriz Martinez-Olivan

Francisco Leonardo Torres-Leal

Luis A Moreno

Augusto Cesar Ferreira De Moraes

Heraclito Barbosa Carvalho

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyse the reliability and validity of a semi-quantitative FFQ to assess food group consumption in South American children and adolescents.

Design: The SAYCARE (South American Youth/Child cARdiovascular and Environmental) study is an observational, multicentre, feasibility study performed in a sample of 3- to 18-year-old children and adolescents attending private and public schools from six South American countries. Participants answered the FFQ twice with a two-week interval and three 24-h dietary recalls. Intraclass and Spearman's correlations, weighted Cohen's kappa (κw), percentage of agreement and energy-adjusted Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated.

Setting: Seven cities in South America (Buenos Aires, Lima, Medelin, Montevideo, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Teresina).

Subjects: A sample of 200 children and 244 adolescents for reliability analyses and 252 children and 244 adolescents for validity analyses were included.

Results: Depending on the food group, for children and adolescents, reliability analyses resulted in Spearman's coefficients from 0·47 to 0·73, intraclass correlation coefficients from 0·66 to 0·99, κw coefficients from 0·35 to 0·63, and percentage of agreement between 72·75 and 83·52 %. In the same way, validity analyses resulted in Spearman's coefficients from 0·17 to 0·37, energy-adjusted Pearson's coefficients from 0·17 to 0·61, κw coefficients from 0·09 to 0·24, and percentages of agreement between 45·79 and 67·06 %.

Conclusion: The SAYCARE FFQ achieved reasonable reliability and slight-moderate validity for almost all food groups intakes. Accordingly, it can be used for the purpose of ranking the intake of individuals within a population.

Citing Articles

Development and Validation of a Short Food Frequency Questionnaire (SH-FFQ) in Iranian Adults: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Saeidlou S, Ayremlou P, Alizadeh M Int J Prev Med. 2025; 15:78.

PMID: 39867256 PMC: 11759222. DOI: 10.4103/ijpvm.ijpvm_323_23.

Beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages consumption pattern and amount among adolescents using beverage frequency questionnaire: cross-sectional study.

Aldhirgham T, Alfawaz H, Al-Daghri N BMC Public Health. 2025; 25(1):50.

PMID: 39762766 PMC: 11705980. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-21145-w.

Validity and Reproducibility of a Spanish EPIC Food Frequency Questionnaire in Children and Adolescents.

Larroya A, Tamayo M, Cenit M, Sanz Y Nutrients. 2024; 16(22).

PMID: 39599596 PMC: 11597864. DOI: 10.3390/nu16223809.

Reproducibility and relative validity of a semi-quantitative food and beverage frequency questionnaire for Spanish children aged 3 to 11 years: the COME-Kids F&B-FQ.

Babio N, de Las Heras-Delgado S, De Miguel-Etayo P, Pastor-Villaescusa B, Leis R, Garciduenas-Fimbres T Eur J Pediatr. 2023; 182(12):5577-5589.

PMID: 37798446 PMC: 10746573. DOI: 10.1007/s00431-023-05220-9.

Understanding the link between gut microbiota, dietary intake, and nutritional status in children with autism and typical development.

Mendive Dubourdieu P, Guerendiain M Front Nutr. 2023; 10:1202948.

PMID: 37545578 PMC: 10399235. DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1202948.

References

Bornhorst C, Bel-Serrat S, Pigeot I, Huybrechts I, Ottavaere C, Sioen I . Validity of 24-h recalls in (pre-)school aged children: comparison of proxy-reported energy intakes with measured energy expenditure. Clin Nutr. 2013; 33(1):79-84. DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2013.03.018. View

Tabacchi G, Amodio E, Di Pasquale M, Bianco A, Jemni M, Mammina C . Validation and reproducibility of dietary assessment methods in adolescents: a systematic literature review. Public Health Nutr. 2014; 17(12):2700-14. PMC: 10282348. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980013003157. View

Bel-Serrat S, Mouratidou T, Pala V, Huybrechts I, Bornhorst C, Fernandez-Alvira J . Relative validity of the Children's Eating Habits Questionnaire-food frequency section among young European children: the IDEFICS Study. Public Health Nutr. 2013; 17(2):266-76. PMC: 10282422. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980012005368. View

Manios Y, Androutsos O, Katsarou C, Iotova V, Socha P, Geyer C . Designing and implementing a kindergarten-based, family-involved intervention to prevent obesity in early childhood: the ToyBox-study. Obes Rev. 2014; 15 Suppl 3:5-13. DOI: 10.1111/obr.12175. View

Neuhouser M, Patterson R, Thornquist M, Omenn G, King I, Goodman G . Fruits and vegetables are associated with lower lung cancer risk only in the placebo arm of the beta-carotene and retinol efficacy trial (CARET). Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2003; 12(4):350-8. View

Magarey A, Watson J, Golley R, Burrows T, Sutherland R, McNaughton S . Assessing dietary intake in children and adolescents: Considerations and recommendations for obesity research. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2010; 6(1):2-11. DOI: 10.3109/17477161003728469. View

Willett W, Sampson L, Stampfer M, Rosner B, Bain C, Witschi J . Reproducibility and validity of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Am J Epidemiol. 1985; 122(1):51-65. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114086. View

Lanfer A, Hebestreit A, Ahrens W, Krogh V, Sieri S, Lissner L . Reproducibility of food consumption frequencies derived from the Children's Eating Habits Questionnaire used in the IDEFICS study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2011; 35 Suppl 1:S61-8. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2011.36. View

Pigeot I, Baranowski T, De Henauw S . The IDEFICS intervention trial to prevent childhood obesity: design and study methods. Obes Rev. 2015; 16 Suppl 2:4-15. DOI: 10.1111/obr.12345. View

10.

Poslusna K, Ruprich J, de Vries J, Jakubikova M, Vant Veer P . Misreporting of energy and micronutrient intake estimated by food records and 24 hour recalls, control and adjustment methods in practice. Br J Nutr. 2009; 101 Suppl 2:S73-85. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114509990602. View

11.

Vereecken C, Maes L . A Belgian study on the reliability and relative validity of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children food-frequency questionnaire. Public Health Nutr. 2003; 6(6):581-8. DOI: 10.1079/phn2003466. View

12.

Truthmann J, Mensink G, Richter A . Relative validation of the KiGGS Food Frequency Questionnaire among adolescents in Germany. Nutr J. 2011; 10:133. PMC: 3261099. DOI: 10.1186/1475-2891-10-133. View

13.

Metcalf P, Scragg R, Sharpe S, Fitzgerald E, Schaaf D, Watts C . Short-term repeatability of a food frequency questionnaire in New Zealand children aged 1-14 y. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003; 57(11):1498-503. DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601717. View

14.

Rockett H, Colditz G . Assessing diets of children and adolescents. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997; 65(4 Suppl):1116S-1122S. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/65.4.1116S. View

15.

Cullen K, Watson K, Zakeri I . Relative reliability and validity of the Block Kids Questionnaire among youth aged 10 to 17 years. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008; 108(5):862-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.jada.2008.02.015. View

16.

Cade J, Thompson R, Burley V, Warm D . Development, validation and utilisation of food-frequency questionnaires - a review. Public Health Nutr. 2002; 5(4):567-87. DOI: 10.1079/PHN2001318. View

17.

Livingstone M, Robson P, Wallace J . Issues in dietary intake assessment of children and adolescents. Br J Nutr. 2004; 92 Suppl 2:S213-22. DOI: 10.1079/bjn20041169. View

18.

Molag M, de Vries J, Ocke M, Dagnelie P, van den Brandt P, Jansen M . Design characteristics of food frequency questionnaires in relation to their validity. Am J Epidemiol. 2007; 166(12):1468-78. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwm236. View

19.

Blum R, Wei E, Rockett H, Langeliers J, Leppert J, Gardner J . Validation of a food frequency questionnaire in Native American and Caucasian children 1 to 5 years of age. Matern Child Health J. 2000; 3(3):167-72. DOI: 10.1023/a:1022350023163. View

20.

Carvalho H, Moreno L, Silva A, Berg G, Estrada-Restrepo A, Gonzalez-Zapata L . Design and Objectives of the South American Youth/Child Cardiovascular and Environmental (SAYCARE) Study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2018; 26 Suppl 1:S5-S13. DOI: 10.1002/oby.22117. View