Reproducibility of a self-administered food frequency questionnaire used in the 5-year follow-up survey of the JPHC Study Cohort I to assess food and nutrient intake

Abstract

We examined the reproducibility of a self-administered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used in the 5-year follow-up survey for the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective Study on cancer and cardiovascular diseases (JPHC Study) to estimate nutrient and food intake by using repeated FFQs at a 1-year interval in 101 men and 108 women. Between energy and each of 32 nutrients, the correlation coefficients in crude values varied from 0.41 for vitamin B12 to 0.83 for alcohol (median=0.59) in men and 0.52 for alpha-carotene to 0.77 for iron (median=0.67) in women. In 21 food groups, it varied from 0.42 for seasonings and spices to 0.80 for pickled vegetables (median=0.61) in men and 0.45 for seasonings and spices and 0.74 for pulses, milks, and pickled vegetables (median=0.63) in women. The correlation coefficients for the energy-adjusted values (medians were 0.49 and 0.50 for nutrients and 0.50 and 0.49 for food groups in men and women, respectively) were somewhat lower than for the crude values. The difference in mean intakes between the two FFQs was less than 10% in most of the nutrient and food groups. The results suggest that the reproducibility of the FFQ used for the JPHC study was moderate to high in most of the nutrient and food groups.