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Development of a short questionnaire to assess diet quality among older community-dwelling adults

Development of a short questionnaire to assess diet quality among older community-dwelling adults
Development of a short questionnaire to assess diet quality among older community-dwelling adults
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the use of a short questionnaire to assess diet quality in older adults.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

SETTING: Hertfordshire, UK

PARTICIPANTS: 3217 community-dwelling older adults (59-73 years)

MEASUREMENTS: Diet was assessed using an administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ); two measures of diet quality were defined by calculating participants’ ‘prudent diet’ scores, firstly from a principal component analysis of the data from the full FFQ (129 items) and, secondly, from a short version of the FFQ (including 24 indicator foods). Scores calculated from the full and short FFQ were compared with nutrient intake and blood concentrations of vitamin C and lipids.

RESULTS: Prudent diet scores calculated from the full FFQ and short FFQ were highly correlated (0.912 in men, 0.904 in women). The pattern of associations between nutrient intake (full FFQ) and diet scores calculated using the short and full FFQs were very similar, both for men and women. Prudent diet scores calculated from the full and short FFQs also showed comparable patterns of association with blood measurements: in men and women, both scores were positively associated with plasma vitamin C concentration and serum HDL; in women, an inverse association with serum triglycerides was also observed.

CONCLUSIONS: A short food-based questionnaire provides useful information about the diet quality of older adults. This simple tool does not require nutrient analysis, and has the potential to be of value to non-specialist researchers.
diet quality, dietary assessment, short questionnaire, older adults
1279-7707
247–253
Robinson, S.M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Jameson, K.A.
d5fb142d-06af-456e-9016-17497f94e9f2
Bloom, I.
392c15a6-a0ab-4dd2-934d-616e6676cbe6
Ntani, G.
9b009e0a-5ab2-4c6e-a9fd-15a601e92be5
Crozier, S.R.
a97b1967-f6af-413a-8eb0-69fa25534d68
Syddall, H.
a0181a93-8fc3-4998-a996-7963f0128328
Dennison, E.M.
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1
Cooper, C.
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Sayer, A.A.
f4c60d4a-ae9c-4633-890f-598a717a61d4
Robinson, S.M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Jameson, K.A.
d5fb142d-06af-456e-9016-17497f94e9f2
Bloom, I.
392c15a6-a0ab-4dd2-934d-616e6676cbe6
Ntani, G.
9b009e0a-5ab2-4c6e-a9fd-15a601e92be5
Crozier, S.R.
a97b1967-f6af-413a-8eb0-69fa25534d68
Syddall, H.
a0181a93-8fc3-4998-a996-7963f0128328
Dennison, E.M.
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1
Cooper, C.
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Sayer, A.A.
f4c60d4a-ae9c-4633-890f-598a717a61d4

Robinson, S.M., Jameson, K.A., Bloom, I., Ntani, G., Crozier, S.R., Syddall, H., Dennison, E.M., Cooper, C. and Sayer, A.A. (2017) Development of a short questionnaire to assess diet quality among older community-dwelling adults. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, 21 (3), 247–253. (doi:10.1007/s12603-016-0758-2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the use of a short questionnaire to assess diet quality in older adults.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

SETTING: Hertfordshire, UK

PARTICIPANTS: 3217 community-dwelling older adults (59-73 years)

MEASUREMENTS: Diet was assessed using an administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ); two measures of diet quality were defined by calculating participants’ ‘prudent diet’ scores, firstly from a principal component analysis of the data from the full FFQ (129 items) and, secondly, from a short version of the FFQ (including 24 indicator foods). Scores calculated from the full and short FFQ were compared with nutrient intake and blood concentrations of vitamin C and lipids.

RESULTS: Prudent diet scores calculated from the full FFQ and short FFQ were highly correlated (0.912 in men, 0.904 in women). The pattern of associations between nutrient intake (full FFQ) and diet scores calculated using the short and full FFQs were very similar, both for men and women. Prudent diet scores calculated from the full and short FFQs also showed comparable patterns of association with blood measurements: in men and women, both scores were positively associated with plasma vitamin C concentration and serum HDL; in women, an inverse association with serum triglycerides was also observed.

CONCLUSIONS: A short food-based questionnaire provides useful information about the diet quality of older adults. This simple tool does not require nutrient analysis, and has the potential to be of value to non-specialist researchers.

Text
JNHA short FFQ paper accepted 4 jan 2016.docx - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 4 January 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 June 2016
Published date: March 2017
Keywords: diet quality, dietary assessment, short questionnaire, older adults
Organisations: MRC Life-Course Epidemiology Unit

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 386770
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/386770
ISSN: 1279-7707
PURE UUID: 6562a2ed-d90a-405b-b3a6-deaa8456c1a1
ORCID for S.M. Robinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-7269
ORCID for H. Syddall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0171-0306
ORCID for E.M. Dennison: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3048-4961
ORCID for C. Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3510-0709

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Feb 2016 10:32
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:48

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Contributors

Author: S.M. Robinson ORCID iD
Author: K.A. Jameson
Author: I. Bloom
Author: G. Ntani
Author: S.R. Crozier
Author: H. Syddall ORCID iD
Author: E.M. Dennison ORCID iD
Author: C. Cooper ORCID iD
Author: A.A. Sayer

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