1.Validity and reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire for breast cancer survivors in Korea
Sang-Eun MOON ; Woo-kyoung SHIN ; Sihan SONG ; Dahye KOH ; Jeong Sun AHN ; Youngbum YOO ; Minji KANG ; Jung Eun LEE
Nutrition Research and Practice 2022;16(6):789-800
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:
The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) developed in Korea for breast cancer survivors.
SUBJECTS/METHODS:
Ninety-nine breast cancer survivors who completed an FFQ twice and three 3-day dietary records (DRs) between 2016–2017 were included. Energy and 14 nutrient intakes were calculated from FFQs and DRs. To determine the validity of the FFQ, energyadjusted de-attenuated Pearson correlations between two FFQ assessments and the average of the three 3-day DRs were calculated, and to determine reproducibility, energy-adjusted Pearson correlations and degrees of agreement were calculated between the first and second FFQ assessments.
RESULTS:
Correlation coefficients of validity ranged from 0.29 (protein) to 0.47 (fat) (median value = 0.36) for the FFQ assessment and from 0.20 (riboflavin) to 0.53 (calcium) (median value = 0.37) for the second. Correlation coefficients of reproducibility ranged from 0.22 (sodium) to 0.62 (carbohydrate) (median value = 0.36). Regarding FFQ reproducibilities, percentage classifications of exact agreements for energy-adjusted nutrients ranged from 27.3% (sodium) and 45.5% (fat). A median 76.8% of participants were classified into the same or adjacent quartiles, while a median of 5.6% of participants were classified in extreme quartiles. Bland–Atman plots for the majority of data points of three macronutrients, calcium and vitamins A and C fell within limits of agreement.
CONCLUSIONS
These results indicated that the newly developed FFQ for Korean breast cancer survivors has acceptable validity and reproducibility as compared with three 3-day DRs collected over a one-year period.