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Agreement between dietary intake of older adults and proxy respondents assessed by a food frequency questionnaire

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the degree of agreement of dietary intake reported by the patient subject with the dietary intake reported by a respondent (a next-of-kin or a caregiver), collected by a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ).

Methodology

126 adults, both sexes, the average age was 65.9 years for patients and 54.4 years for respondents. They were recruited from the General Practice Clinic at the Clinical Hospital of São Paulo (AGD-FMUSP). The agreement between the responses given by patients and respondents was assessed using Spearman, weighted Kappa and Bland Altman tests.

Results

The analysis for accuracy between responses (Spearman test) showed a moderate degree of agreement (0.31-0.39) for Energy, Total fat, Total Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA), Total Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA). Regarding food groups a moderate agreement was found for the majority of the foods (fruits (0.30), dairy products (0.50), natural juices (0.45), beans (0.48), butter/margarine (0.55), coffee (0.41) and soda (0.45), with the exception of vegetables (0.12) and rice (0.63). The ingestion differences did not exceeded the limit of the two standard deviations for the majority of the pairs (Bland Altman). A respondent subsample composed only of husband/wives (N = 36) revealed a moderate agreement concordance for most macronutrients studied (0.30 - 0.58), except polyunsaturated fats (0.25).

Conclusion

The results of this study show that, the FFQ may be used in cases where is impossible to get the answers directly from the patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Institute /State Secretary of Health of São Paulo, Rua Santo Antonio 590, cep 01314000, Bela Vista – São Paulo, Brazil

    Silvia Regina Dias Medici Saldiva, A. L. da Silva Castro & I. B. Gonçalves

  2. Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil

    L. Bassani

  3. Undergraduate Public Health of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    C. R. de Oliveira Sales

  4. Nutrition Department of Faculty of Public Health of University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil

    D. M. Lobo Marchioni

Authors
  1. Silvia Regina Dias Medici Saldiva
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  2. L. Bassani
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  3. A. L. da Silva Castro
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  4. I. B. Gonçalves
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  5. C. R. de Oliveira Sales
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  6. D. M. Lobo Marchioni
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Correspondence to Silvia Regina Dias Medici Saldiva.

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Dias Medici Saldiva, S.R., Bassani, L., da Silva Castro, A.L. et al. Agreement between dietary intake of older adults and proxy respondents assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. J Nutr Health Aging 21, 266–270 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-016-0789-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-016-0789-8

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