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Reliability and comparative validity of a Diet Quality Index for assessing dietary patterns of preschool-aged children in Sydney, Australia

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 464–468 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

To report on the reliability and validity of a Diet Quality Index (DQI) to assess preschoolers dietary patterns using a short food frequency questionnaire (sFFQ) and 3-day food records (3d-FR).

Subjects/methods

Seventy-seven preschool carers/parents completed a telephone interview on preschoolers (2–5-year olds) dietary habits in metropolitan Sydney. Agreement in scores was assessed using intraclass correlation (ICC) and paired t-tests for repeated sFFQ–DQI scores and Bland–Altman methods and paired t-tests for sFFQ–DQI and 3d-FR–DQI scores.

Results

Mean-total sFFQ–DQI ICC scores was high = 0.89, 95% CI (0.81, 0.93). There was weak agreement between sFFQ–DQI and 3d-FR–DQI scores (r = 0.36, p < 0.01). The 3d-FR–DQI scores were positively associated with carbohydrate, folate, ß-carotene, magnesium, calcium, protein, total fat and negatively associated with sugar, starch, niacin, vitamin C, phosphorus, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat.

Conclusions

The sFFQ–DQI demonstrated good reliability but weak validity. Associations between nutrients and 3d-FR–DQI scores indicate promising usability and warrants further investigation. Further research is needed to establish its validity in accurately scoring children’s diet quality using sFFQ compared to 3d-FR before the tool can be implemented for use in population settings.

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Acknowledgements

This research is related to the work of the Healthy Beginnings Trial (HBT); however the participants of this study were not part of the HBT. The study was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (ID number: 393112).

Author contributions

The authors’ contributions are as follows: KK and VF developed the DQI tool, KK carried out the data analyses, interpretation of findings and wrote the manuscript. LMW and LB contributed to the data interpretations. VF was the principal investigator and contributed to the study design, data collection and interpretation of findings. MH contributed to the data analyses and study interpretations All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Compliance with ethical standards

Informed consent was obtained from all parents for being included in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Kanita Kunaratnam, Mark Halaki & Victoria M Flood

  2. Health Promotion Service, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Li Ming Wen

  3. School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Li Ming Wen & Louise A Baur

  4. Discipline of Pediatrics and Child Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Louise A Baur

  5. Westmead Hospital (Western Sydney Local Health District), Sydney, NSW, 2145, Australia

    Victoria M Flood

Authors
  1. Kanita Kunaratnam
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  2. Mark Halaki
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  3. Li Ming Wen
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  4. Louise A Baur
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  5. Victoria M Flood
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victoria M Flood.

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Competing interests

All authors listed have contributed sufficiently to the project to be included as authors, and all those who are qualified to be authors are listed in the author byline. The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

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Kunaratnam, K., Halaki, M., Wen, L.M. et al. Reliability and comparative validity of a Diet Quality Index for assessing dietary patterns of preschool-aged children in Sydney, Australia. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 464–468 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-017-0020-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-017-0020-y

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