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Comparative Study
. 2018 Nov 27;17(1):111.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-018-0415-1.

Comparison of the NHANES dietary screener questionnaire to the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Recall for Children in the Healthy Communities Study

Sridharshi Chintha Hewawitharana  1 , Frances Elizabeth Thompson  2 , Catherine M Loria  3 , Warren Strauss  4 , Jyothi Nagaraja  4 , Lorrene Ritchie  5 , Karen Lucy Webb  5
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparison of the NHANES dietary screener questionnaire to the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Recall for Children in the Healthy Communities Study

Sridharshi Chintha Hewawitharana et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: A dietary screener questionnaire (DSQ) was used to assess dietary outcomes among children in the Healthy Communities Study (HCS), a study of the relationships between programs and policies to prevent child obesity and child diet, physical activity and weight outcomes.

Methods: To compare dietary intake estimates derived from the DSQ against those from the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Recalls for Children (ASA24-Kids) among children, a measurement error model, using structural equation modelling, was utilized to estimate slopes, deattenuated correlation coefficients, and attenuation factors by age and sex, ethnicity, and BMI status.

Participants/setting: A randomly selected sub-sample of HCS participants aged 4-15 years in 130 communities throughout the U.S. who completed the DSQ and up to two ASA24-Kids recalls (n = 656;13% of HCS participants).

Results: For most nutrient/foods examined, the DSQ yielded larger mean intake estimates than the ASA24-Kids, and agreement between the two measures varied by food/nutrient, age and sex, ethnicity, and BMI category. Deattenuated correlation coefficients of 0.4 or greater were observed for added sugars from SSBs (0.54), fruits and vegetables (0.40), and dairy foods (0.50). Lower deattenuated correlation coefficients were seen for total added sugars (0.37), whole grains (0.34), and fiber (0.34). Attenuation factors were most severe for total added sugars intake among overweight children, and for several other dietary outcomes among children aged 9-11 years.

Conclusions: The DSQ was found to be a tool with acceptable agreement with the ASA24-Kids for measuring multiple dietary outcomes of interest in the HCS, although there may be potential due to measurement error to underestimate results (bias towards the null). In future studies, measurement error modelling and regression calibration may be possible solutions to correct for bias due to measurement error in most food/nutrient intake estimates from the DSQ when used among children.

Keywords: ASA24-kids; Concurrent validity; DSQ; Dietary screener; FFQ.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Battelle Memorial Institute’s Institutional Review Board provided oversight for the study, operating under its Federal Wide Assurance No. 4696, on file with the NIH-HHS Office of Human Research Protection. All data collection forms and protocols were approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB #0925–0649). All participants included in this study consented/assented to participate.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

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