Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T08:54:15.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Validation of a food-frequency questionnaire for cohort studies in rural Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Keiko Ogawa ,
Yoshitaka Tsubono ,
Yoshikazu Nishino ,
Yoko Watanabe ,
Takayoshi Ohkubo ,
Takao Watanabe ,
Haruo Nakatsuka ,
Nobuko Takahashi ,
Mieko Kawamura  and
Ichiro Tsuji
...Show all authors
Keiko Ogawa
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Yoshitaka Tsubono*
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Yoshikazu Nishino
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Yoko Watanabe
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Takayoshi Ohkubo
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Takao Watanabe
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, Miyagi University of Education, Sendai, Japan
Haruo Nakatsuka
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Miyagi University, Sendai, Japan
Nobuko Takahashi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Human Sciences, Sendai Shirayuri Women's College, Sendai, Japan
Mieko Kawamura
Affiliation:
Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Kochi State Women's University, Sendai, Japan
Ichiro Tsuji
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Shigeru Hisamichi
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
*
*Corresponding author: Email ytsubono@metamedica.com
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objectives:

To examine the validity and reproducibility of a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used for two cohort studies in Japan.

Design:

Cross-sectional study.

Setting:

Two rural towns in the Miyagi Prefecture, in north-eastern Japan.

Subjects:

Fifty-five men and 58 women.

Results:

A 40-item FFQ was administered twice, 1 year apart. In the mean time, four 3-day diet records (DRs) were collected in four seasons within the year. We calculated daily consumption of total energy and 15 nutrients, 40 food items and nine food groups from the FFQs and the DRs. We computed Spearman correlation coefficients between the FFQs and the DRs. With adjustment for age, total energy and deattenuation for measurement error with the DRs, the correlation coefficients for nutrient intakes ranged from 0.25 to 0.58 in men and from 0.30 to 0.69 in women, with median of 0.43 and 0.43, respectively. Median (range) of the correlation coefficients was 0.35 (−0.30 to 0.72) in men and 0.34 (−0.06 to 0.75) in women for food items and 0.60 (−0.10 to 0.76) and 0.51 (0.28–0.70) for food groups, respectively. Median (range) of the correlation coefficients for the two FFQs administered 1 year apart was 0.49 (0.31–0.71) in men and 0.50 (0.40–0.64) in women for nutrients, 0.43 (0.14–0.76) and 0.45 (0.06–0.74) respectively for food items, and 0.50 (0.30–0.70) and 0.57 (0.39–0.66) respectively for food groups. Relatively higher agreement percentages for intakes of nutrients and food groups with high validity were obtained together with lower complete disagreement percentages.

Conclusions:

The FFQ has a high reproducibility and a reasonably good validity, and is useful in assessing the usual intakes of nutrients, foods and food groups among a rural Japanese population.

Keywords

ValidityReproducibilityFood frequency questionnaire
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 147 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2003

References

1Willett, WC. Nutritional Epidemiology, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
2Nakamura, M, Aoki, N, Nasu, K, Kondo, I. A comparison between a food frequency and amount questionnaire and 7-day diet record with weighing. Jpn. J. Public Health 1994; 41: 682–92 [in Japanese].Google Scholar
3Date, C, Yamaguchi, M, Tanaka, H. Development of a food frequency questionnaire in Japan. J. Epidemiol. 1996; 6(Suppl.): 131–6.Google Scholar
4Katagiri, A, Hashimoto, S, Ohashi, Y, Shirogane, K, Sakamoto, N, Makimoto, S. Reproducibility and validity of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Jpn. J. Public Health 1998; 45: 1127–36 [in Japanese].Google Scholar
5Sasaki, S, Yanagibori, R, Amano, K. Self-administered diet history questionnaire development of health education: a relative validation of the test version by comparison with 3-day diet record in women. J. Epidemiol. 1998; 8: 203–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Egami, I, Wakai, K, Kato, K, Lin, Y, Kawamura, T, Tamakoshi, A, et al. A simple food frequency questionnaire for Japanese diet – Part II. Reproducibility and validity for nutrient intakes. J. Epidemiol. 1999; 9: 227–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7Shimizu, H, Ohwaki, A, Kurisu, Y, Takatsuka, N, Ido, M, Kawasaki, N, et al. Validity and reproducibility of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire for a cohort study in Japan. Jpn. J. Clin. Oncol. 1999; 29: 38–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Yamaoka, K, Tango, T, Watanabe, M, Tokotsuka, M. Validity and reproducibility of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for nutritional education of patients of diabetes mellitus (FFQW65). Jpn. J. Public Health 2000; 47: 230–44 [in Japanese].Google ScholarPubMed
9Tsubono, Y, Sasaki, S, Kobayashi, M, Akabane, M, Tsugane, S. Food composition and empirical weight methods in predicting nutrient intakes from food frequency questionnaire. Ann. Epidemiol. 2001; 11: 213–8.Google Scholar
10Tsubono, Y, Ogawa, K, Watanabe, Y, Nishino, Y, Tsuji, I, Watanabe, T, et al. Food frequency questionnaire as a screening test. Nutr. Cancer 2001; 39(1): 78–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11Tokudome, S, Imaeda, N, Tokudome, Y, Fujiwara, N, Nagaya, T, Sato, J, et al. Relative validity of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire versus 28 day weighed diet records in Japanese female dietitians. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 2001; 55: 735–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12Hu, FB, Stampfer, MJ, Rimm, EB, Manson, JE, Ascherio, A, Colditz, GA, et al. A prospective study of egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 1999; 281: 1387–94.Google Scholar
13Tsubono, Y, Nishino, Y, Komatsu, S, Hsieh, CC, Kanemura, S, Tsuji, I, et al. Green tea and the risk of gastric cancer in Japan. N. Engl. J. Med. 2001; 344: 632–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14Feskanich, D, Ziegler, RG, Michaud, DS, Giovannucci, EL, Speizer, FE, Willett, WC, et al. Prospective study of fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of lung cancer among men and women. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2000; 92: 1812–23.Google Scholar
15Hu, FB, Rimm, E, Stampfer, MJ, Ascherio, A, Spiegelman, D, Willett, WC. Prospective study of major dietary patterns and risk of coronary heart disease in men. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2000; 72(4): 912–21.Google Scholar
16Michels, KB, Giovannucci, EL, Joshipura, KJ, Rosner, BA, Stampfer, MJ, Fuchs, CS, et al. Prospective study of fruit and vegetable consumption and incidence of colon and rectal cancers. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2000; 92: 1740–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Smith-Warner, SA, Spiegelman, D, Yaun, SS, Adami, HO, Beeson, WL, van den Brandt, PA, et al. Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breast cancer – a pooled analysis of cohort studies. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 2001; 285: 769–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18Terry, P, Giovannucci, EL, Michels, KB, Bergkvist, L, Hansen, H, Holmberg, L, et al. Fruit, vegetables, dietary fiber, and risk of colorectal cancer. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2001; 93: 525–33.Google Scholar
19Imai, K, Suga, K, Nakachi, K. Cancer-preventive effects of drinking green tea among a Japanese population. Prev. Med. 1997; 26(6): 769–75.Google Scholar
20Inoue, M, Tajima, K, Hirose, K, Hamajima, N, Takezaki, T, Kuroishi, T, et al. Tea and coffee consumption and the risk of digestive tract cancers: data from a comparative case-referent study in Japan. Cancer Causes Control 1998; 9: 209–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Kono, S, Ikeda, M, Tokudome, S, Kuratsune, M. A case–control study of gastric cancer and diet in northern Kyushu, Japan. Jpn. J. Cancer Res. 1988; 79: 1067–74.Google Scholar
22Tajima, K, Tominaga, S. Dietary habits and gastro-intestinal cancer: a comparative case–control study of stomach and large intestinal cancers in Nagoya, Japan. Jpn. J. Cancer Res. 1985; 76: 705–16.Google Scholar
23Horiuchi, T, Onouchi, T, Takahashi, M, Ito, H, Orimo, H. Effect of soy protein on bone metabolism in postmenopausal Japanese women. Osteoporosis Int. 2000; 11(8): 721–4.Google Scholar
24Nagata, C, Takatsuka, N, Kawakami, N, Shimizu, H. Soy product intake and hot flashes in Japanese women: results from a community-based prospective study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2001; 153(8): 790–3.Google Scholar
25Sasazuki, S. Case–control study of nonfatal myocardial infarction in relation to selected foods in Japanese men and women. Fukuoka Heart Study Group. Jpn. Cir. J. 2001; 65(3): 200–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26Somekawa, Y, Chiguchi, M, Ishibashi, T, Aso, T. Soy intake related to menopausal symptoms, serum lipids, and bone mineral density in postmenopausal Japanese women. Obstet. Gynecol. 2001; 97(1): 109–15.Google Scholar
27Salvini, S, Hunter, DJ, Sampson, L, Stampfer, MJ, Colditz, GA, Rosner, B, et al. Food-based validation of a dietary questionnaire: the effects of week-to-week variation in food consumption. Int. J. Epidemiol. 1989; 18: 858–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28Feskanich, D, Rimm, EB, Giovannucci, EL, Colditz, GA, Stampfer, MJ, Litin, LB, et al. Reproducibility and validity of food frequency questionnaire. J. Am. Diet Assoc. 1993; 93: 790–6.Google Scholar
29Wakai, K, Egami, I, Kato, K, Lin, Y, Kawamura, T, Tamakoshi, A, et al. A simple food frequency questionnaire for Japanese diet – Part I. Reproducibility and validity for nutrient intakes. J. Epidemiol. 1999; 9: 227–34.Google Scholar
30Fukao, A, Tsubono, Y, Komatsu, S, Tsuji, I, Minami, Y, Hisamichi, S, et al. A cohort study on the relation of lifestyle, personality and biologic markers to cancer in Miyagi, Japan: study design, response rate and profiles of the cohort subjects. J. Epidemiol. 1995; 5: 153–7.Google Scholar
31Tsuji, I, Nishino, Y, Ohkubo Tuwahara, A, Ogawa, K, Watanabe, Y, Tsubono, Y, et al. A prospective cohort study on national health insurance beneficiaries in Ohsaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan: study design, profiles of the subjects and medical cost during the first year. J. Epidemiol. 1998; 8: 258–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32Ohno, Y, Tamakoshi, A. Japan collaborative cohort study for evaluation of cancer risk sponsored by Monbusho (JACC study). The JACC Study Group. J. Epidemiol. 2001; 11: 144–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33Science and Technology Agency. Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan, 4th revised ed. Tokyo: Printing Bureau, Ministry of Finance, 1982 [in Japanese].Google Scholar
34Willett, WC, Stampfer, MJ. Total energy intake: implications for epidemiologic analyses. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1986; 124: 17–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35Rosner, B, Willett, WC. Interval estimates for correlation coefficients corrected for within-person variation: implications for study design and hypothesis testing. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1988; 127: 377–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
36Block, G, Hartman, AM, Dresser, CM, Carroll, MD, Gannon, J, Gardner, L. A data-based approach to diet questionnaire design and testing. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1986; 124: 453–69.Google Scholar
37Willett, WC, Sampson, L, Stampfer, MJ, Rosner, B, Bain, C, Witschi, J, et al. Reproducibility and validity of a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1985; 122: 51–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
38Hu, FB, Rimm, E, Smith-Warner, SA, Feskanich, D, Stampfer, MJ, Ascherio, A, et al. Reproducibility and validity of dietary patterns assessed with a food-frequency questionnaire. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 69(2): 243–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
39Armstrong, BK, White, E, Saracci, R. Principles of Exposure Measurement in Epidemiology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.Google Scholar