Are diet diaries of value in recording dietary intake of sugars? A retrospective analysis of completion rates and information quality.
Objectives Current guidance recommends that dental practitioners should routinely give dietary advice to patients, with diet diaries as a tool to help diet assessment. We explored patients' compliance with diet-diaries usage in a paediatric clinic within a teaching hospital setting, where remuneration is not an issue. Objectives were to investigate associated factors affecting diet diaries return rate and the information obtained from returned diaries.Methods A retrospective study of 200 randomly selected clinical records of children aged 5-11 years who had received diet analysis and advice as part of a preventive dental care programme at a dental teaching hospital between 2010 and 2013. Clinical records, with a preventive care pro forma, were included in the study. Data on social and family history, DMFT-dmft, oral hygiene practices, dental attendance and dietary habits were obtained and compared with information given in completed diet-diaries. A deductive content analysis of returned diet-diaries was undertaken using a pre-developed coding scheme.Results Of 174 complete records included in this study, diet diaries were returned in 60 (34.5%) of them. Diet diaries were more likely to be returned by those children who reported that they regularly brushed their teeth (P <0.05), and those who came from smaller families (P <0.05). Content analysis of diet diaries enabled the identification of harmful types of foods and drinks in 100% of diaries. General dietary issues, frequency and between-meals intake of sugars were also all captured in the majority of diaries (95.0%, N = 56). Information on sugar amount (53.0%, N = 32), prolonged-contact with teeth (57.0%, N = 34) and near bedtime intakes (17.0%, N = 28) was reported in fewer diaries.Conclusions The return rate of diet-diaries in this setting was low, and associated with patients' demographic and oral health characteristics. Returned diet-diaries showed a varied range of missing important dietary information, such as sugar amount, which appears to compromise their validity as a diet assessment tool. Development of a more reliable and acceptable dietary assessment tool for use in the dental setting is needed.
Department of Health Services Research, School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool UK.
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Arheiam
School of Dentistry, Institute of Learning and Teaching, University of Liverpool Liverpool UK.
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Albadri
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool Liverpool UK.
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Brown
Department of Biostatistics, University of Liverpool Liverpool UK.
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Burnside
Department of Health Services Research, School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool UK.
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Higham
Department of Health Services Research, School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool UK.
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Harris
D002648:Child; D000068598:Data Accuracy; D003731:Dental Caries; D004032:Diet; D000073417:Dietary Sugars; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D000073893:Sugars
D000073417:Dietary Sugars; D000073893:Sugars