Participant characteristics associated with errors in self-reported energy intake from the Women’s Health Initiative food-frequency questionnaire
- 1 October 2002
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Elsevier BV in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Vol. 76 (4), 766-773
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/76.4.766
Abstract
Background: Errors in self-reported dietary intake threaten inferences from studies relying on instruments such as food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs), food records, and food recalls. Objective: The objective was to quantify the magnitude, direction, and predictors of errors associated with energy intakes estimated from the Women's Health Initiative FFQ. Design: Postmenopausal women (n = 102) provided data on sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics that relate to errors in self-reported energy intake. Energy intake was objectively estimated as total energy expenditure, physical activity expenditure, and the thermic effect of food (10% addition to other components of total energy expenditure). Results: Participants underreported energy intake on the FFQ by 20.8%; this error trended upward with younger age (P = 0.07) and social desirability (P = 0.09) but was not associated with body mass index (P = 0.95). The correlation coefficient between reported energy intake and total energy expenditure was 0.24; correlations were higher among women with less education, higher body mass index, and greater fat-free mass, social desirability, and dissatisfaction with perceived body size (all P < 0.10). Conclusions: Energy intake is generally underreported, and both the magnitude of the error and the association of the self-reporting with objectively estimated intake appear to vary by participant characteristics. Studies relying on self-reported intake should include objective measures of energy expenditure in a subset of participants to identify person-specific bias within the study population for the dietary self-reporting tool; these data should be used to calibrate the self-reported data as an integral aspect of diet and disease association studies.This publication has 43 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dietary underreporting is prevalent in middleaged British women and is not related to adiposity (percentage body fat)International Journal of Obesity, 1999
- Behavioral and Body Size Correlates of Energy Intake Underreporting by Obese and Normal-weight WomenJournal of the American Dietetic Association, 1999
- Potential underreporting of energy intake in the Ontario Health Survey and its relationship with nutrient and food intakesEuropean Journal of Epidemiology, 1999
- Under- and overreporting of energy intake related to weight status and lifestyle in a nationwide sampleThe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1998
- Determinants of Obesity-related Underreporting of Energy IntakeAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 1998
- Underreporting of energy, protein and potassium intake in relation to body mass indexInternational Journal of Epidemiology, 1998
- Dietary assessment in Whitehall II: The influence of reporting bias on apparent socioeconomic variation in nutrient intakesEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1997
- Determinants and nature of dietary underreporting in a free-living population: the Fleurbaix Laventie Ville Santé (FLVS) studyInternational Journal of Obesity, 1997
- Dietary underreporting by obese individuals--is it specific or non-specific?BMJ, 1995
- Correlates of over- and underreporting of energy intake in healthy older men and womenThe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1994