title: Assessing dietary fat intake in chronic disease rehabilitation programs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous work has established that the Heart Fit Rx Diet Habits Survey (HFD), formerly the Food Frequency Assessment Tool, compares favorably (r = 0.78; P <.01) with the Oregon Health Sciences University Diet Habit Survey. The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the HFD in estimating fat intake as a percentage of calories.
  
  
  METHODS
  The validity study assessed 137 patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation (age, 60.7 +/- 11.3 years) who completed the HFD (29 questions, 11 of which were dietary fat related [fat subscore]) and a 3-day food record. A regression equation was obtained using HFD subscores to estimate fat intake as a percentage of calories. The regression equation was tested using 50 patients not included in the original cohort. Reliability was assessed using a third group of 31 patients in a 4-week test-retest analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The correlation coefficient between the 3-day record and the HFD fat subscore was 0.65 (P <.01). The correlation coefficient for women (r = 0.77) was slightly higher than for men (r = 0.62). The regression equation derived from the HFD fat subscore was as follows: percentage of dietary fat = 50.65 - 0.736 (HFD fat subscore). The correlation coefficient for actual and predicted values was 0.58 (P <.01). Differences between estimated fat intake, as determined by the 3-day record and the HFD, ranged from 0% to 25% and were within 5% for 26 of the 50 subjects (52%), and within 10% for 41 of the 50 subjects (82%). The mean difference between the two measures was 1.5% (P =.17). Test-retest reliability was high for both the HFD total score (r = 0.95) and the HFD fat subscore (r = 0.85; P <.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HFD is an inexpensive, valid, and reliable clinical instrument for assessing dietary fat. It can be a viable alternative to other time-consuming methods, including computerized analysis.
authors.affiliation: HeartLife Program, Heart Institute of Greenville Hospital System, Greenville, SC 29605-4254, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Matt S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Feigenbaum
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jupp
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Senn
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wracker
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blackhurst
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hendricks
authors.forename: J Larry
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Durstine
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats