title: Quality control including validation in dietary surveys of elderly subjects. The validation of a dietary history method (the SENECA-method) used in the 1914-population study in Glostrup of Danish men and women aged 80 years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality control including validation in dietary surveys is needed to reduce and detect errors which would lead to an attenuated scientific foundation for the diet-disease relationship. Especially studies in the elderly are needed because of limited knowledge of reference values, cut-off values etc.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To validate a modified dietary history method (the SENECA-method) in elderly subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey of Danish men and women aged 80 years, who participated in the 1914-population study in Glostrup.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pilot study (n = 34) validated the dietary history against 24-h urine collections; a main study (n = 240) compared dietary history with a 3-day estimated food record.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Protein intake from dietary history was 10% higher than calculated protein intake from 24-h urine collections. Differences in intakes of energy and macronutrients between dietary history and 3-day food record were generally small and non-significant, and there was good agreement between the methods in classifying nutrient intakes into same tertiles. A Bland & Altman plot indicated increasing differences in energy intake between methods with increased energy intake. Evidence for under-reporting of energy intake and/or over-reporting of the physical activity level was further made plausible when physical activity ratio was compared to recognized cut-off limits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The modified dietary history method can be used to estimate dietary intake in 80 year old subjects, but some degree of misreporting, especially under-reporting, appears to be present. Keeping this in mind it is, however, possible to analyse dietary intake against other survey data.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food Research and Nutrition, Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, Søborg, Denmark. anp@fdir.dk
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fagt
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ovesen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schroll
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003718:Denmark; D015930:Diet Records; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000652:urine; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011786:Quality Control; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016482:Urinalysis
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D009584:Nitrogen