Performance of a short dietary questionnaire to assess nutrient intake using regression-based weights.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the performance of a short dietary questionnaire, using weights to estimate nutrient intake.


METHODS
Using dietary data collected in 1993-1995 from a large cohort of French women, stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the food groups that best predicted nutrient intakes, resulting in a short list of twenty-three foods. This list was used to design a twenty-three-item dietary questionnaire. Nutrient intake was estimated from the answers to the twenty-three questions, applying weights to each response. Weights were calculated from the large database as regression coefficients of the nutrient intake against the twenty-three food groups. In 2005-2006, 103 women responded (at a 1-year interval) to both the short questionnaire and a previously validated dietary history questionnaire. Intakes of twenty nutrients and energy estimated from these two questionnaires were compared.


METHODS
French adult female population.


METHODS
For developing the instrument, 73 034 women aged 41-72 years; for testing, 103 women aged 55-80 years in 2005.


RESULTS
Mean nutrient intakes generally differed by less than 10 % between the two methods. Correlation coefficients of nutrient intakes ranged from 0.23 for vitamin D to >0.65 for Mg, vitamin B3 and alcohol. For most nutrients, at least 70 % of subjects fell into the same or an adjacent quintile when classified by either of the two questionnaires.


CONCLUSIONS
In light of both its strengths and limitations, this short questionnaire could be used in French adult women to obtain some general nutritional information, notably for adjustment purposes when response to an extensive questionnaire cannot be obtained.
Vercambre
Marie-Noël
MN
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, ERI 20, EA 4045 and Institut Gustave-Roussy, Desmoulins, Villejuif Cedex, France.
Boutron-Ruault
Marie-Christine
MC
Niravong
Maryvonne
M
Berr
Claudine
C
Clavel-Chapelon
Françoise
F
Ragusa
Stéphane
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
D018977:Micronutrients