title: Development, reproducibility and validity of a food frequency questionnaire among pregnant women adherent to the Mediterranean dietary pattern.
abstract: Accurate dietary assessment tools are required to ensure that maternal diet supplies all the nutrients needed for fetal development. However, no dietary method could accurately estimate food intake during gestation. Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ), frequently used in epidemiological studies, estimate long term nutritional status of the target population. However, it is recommended to create and validate a FFQ compatible with the dietary habits of the studied population, to avoid cultural and social discrepancies. This study aimed to develop and test the reproducibility and the validity of a semi-quantitative FFQ compatible with the diet of Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern population, in a sample of Lebanese pregnant women.
  
  
  
  128 women participated in the validation study, while 38 took part in the reproducibility phase, which was repeated in a time frame of 21 days. The FFQ was validated against a 24 h dietary recall (DR).
  
  
  
  The intra class correlation coefficient (ICC) ranged from 0.935 for calcium to 0.984 for vitamin D (p value < 0.001), indicating an excellent reproducibility. A satisfactory agreement between the two dietary tools was demonstrated using Bland-Altman plot and Spearman's and Pearson's correlations coefficients which varied between 0.294 for iron to 0.762 for caloric intake (p value < 0.01).
  
  
  
  The newly developed FFQ englobing Mediterranean food items was culture specific and assessed the nutrient intake of our population. Administering this tool in future researches will help monitor the nutritional status of pregnant women, aiming at improving maternal and newborn health.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Pharmacologie, Pharmacie clinique et Contrôle de qualité des Médicaments, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Papazian
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Hala
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hout
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Darine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sibai
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Nour
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Helou
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais, France.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Younes
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Nada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: El Osta
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Pharmacologie, Pharmacie clinique et Contrôle de qualité des Médicaments, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: lydia.khabbaz@usj.edu.lb.
authors.forename: Lydia Rabbaa
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Khabbaz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002136:Calcium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015930:Diet Records; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011939:Mental Recall; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D014807:Vitamin D
keywords: 24 h dietary recall; Food frequency questionnaire; Maternal nutritional status; Reproducibility; Validity