Original Article

International Journal of Obesity (2008) 32, S4–S11; doi:10.1038/ijo.2008.177

Design and implementation of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Cross-Sectional Study

L A Moreno1, S De Henauw2, M González-Gross3, M Kersting4, D Molnár5, F Gottrand6, L Barrios7, M Sjöström8, Y Manios9, C C Gilbert10, C Leclercq11, K Widhalm12, A Kafatos13 and A Marcos14 on behalf of the HELENA Study Group15

  1. 1Escuela Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
  2. 2Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  3. 3Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  4. 4Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Dortmund, Germany
  5. 5University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
  6. 6University of Lille 2, Lille, France
  7. 7Centro Técnico de Informática, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
  8. 8Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
  9. 9Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece
  10. 10Department of Consumer and Sensory Sciences, Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK
  11. 11INRAN - National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition, Rome, Italy
  12. 12Division of Clinical Nutrition and Prevention, Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  13. 13Preventive Medicine & Nutrition Unit, University of Crete School of Medicine, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
  14. 14Grupo Inmunonutrición, Departamento de Metabolismo y Nutrición, Instituto del Frio, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain

Correspondence: Professor LA Moreno, E.U. Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, Domingo Miral s/n, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain. E-mail: lmoreno@unizar.es

15See Appendix at the end of the supplement on page S82.

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Abstract

Objective:

 

To provide an overview of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Cross-Sectional Study (HELENA-CSS) design, with particular attention to its quality control procedures. Other important methodological aspects are described in detail throughout this supplement.

Design:

 

Description of the HELENA-CSS sampling and recruitment approaches, standardization and harmonization processes, data collection and analysis strategies and quality control activities.

Results:

 

The HELENA-CSS is a multi-centre collaborative study conducted in European adolescents located in urban settings. The data management systems, quality assurance monitoring activities, standardized manuals of operating procedures and training and study management are addressed in this paper. Various quality controls to ensure collection of valid and reliable data will be discussed in this supplement, as well as quantitative estimates of measurement error.

Conclusion:

 

The great advantage of the HELENA-CSS is the strict standardization of the fieldwork and the blood analyses, which precludes to a great extent the kind of immeasurable confounding bias that often interferes when comparing results from isolated studies.

Keywords:

adolescence, nutrition, design, cross-sectional study

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