Food Frequency Questionnaire for Chinese Children Aged 12-17 Years: Validity and Reliability

• Published in: Biomedical and environmental sciences 2019-07, Vol.32 (7), p.486-495
• Main Authors: LIU, Dan, JU, La Hong, YANG, Zhen Yu, ZHANG, Qian, GAO, Jian Fen, GONG, Di Ping, GUO, Dan Dan, LUO, Shu Quan, ZHAO, Wen Hua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Chinese children; Diet Records; Female; Food frequency questionnaire; Humans; Male; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity
• ISSN: 0895-3988; 2214-0190
• DOI: 10.3967/bes2019.066

The primary objective of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) among Chinese children aged 12-17 years. A semi-quantitative 72-food item FFQ was developed for children aged 12-17 years. The reliability and validity of this FFQ were evaluated against 24-h dietary recalls (24 h DRs) to measure the consumption of foods and nutrients. We administered two FFQs and three DRs to children (N = 160) over a period of 1 month to evaluate the reliability and validity. Reliability was examined by quartile agreement and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and validity was examined by quartile agreement, Bland-Altman plots and correlation with DRs. For reliability, the ICCs between the two FFQs ranged from 0.21 to 0.76 for foods and nutrients, and the quartile agreement ranged from 70.0% to 95.0% in the same or adjacent quartiles. Spearman's correlation coefficients of foods and nutrients between the second FFQ and the 24 h DRs ranged from −0.04 to 0.59. The Bland-Altman plots demonstrated good agreement across the range of intakes among nutrients. The quartile agreement ranged from 50.0% to 100.0%, with infrequent misclassification. The FFQ assessment of dietary intakes demonstrated acceptable relative validity and high reproducibility for Chinese children aged 12-17 years.