ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES@#To systematically review and identify food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) developed for the Iranian population and their validation and reproducibility in order to determine possible research gaps and needs. @*METHODS@#Studies were selected by searching for relevant keywords in the PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar, SID, and Iranmedex databases, unpublished data, and theses in November 2016 (updated in September 2019). All English-language and Persian-language papers were included. Duplicates, articles with unrelated content, and articles only containing a protocol were excluded. The FFQs were categorized based on: (1) number of food items in to short (≤80 items) and long (>80 items) and; (2) the aim of the FFQ to explore total consumption patternutrients (general) or to detect specific nutrient(s)/food group(s) (specialized). @*RESULTS@#Sixteen reasonably validated questionnaires were identified. However, only 13 presented a reproducibility assessment. Ten FFQs were categorized as general (7 long, 3 short) and 6 as specialized (3 long, 3 short). The correlation coefficients for nutrient intake between dietary records or recalls and FFQs were 0.07-0.82 for long (general: 0.07-0.82 and specialized: 0.26-0.67) and 0.20-0.67 for short (general: 0.24-0.54 and specialized: 0.20-0.42) FFQs. Long FFQs showed higher validity and reproducibility than short FFQs. Reproducibility of FFQs was acceptable (0.32-0.89). The strongest correlations were reported by studies with shorter intervals between FFQs. @*CONCLUSIONS@#FFQs designed for the Iranian population appear to be appropriate tools for dietary assessment. Despite their acceptable reproducibility, their validity for assessing specific nutrients and their applicability for populations other than those they were developed for may be questionable.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES@#To systematically review and identify food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) developed for the Iranian population and their validation and reproducibility in order to determine possible research gaps and needs. @*METHODS@#Studies were selected by searching for relevant keywords in the PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar, SID, and Iranmedex databases, unpublished data, and theses in November 2016 (updated in September 2019). All English-language and Persian-language papers were included. Duplicates, articles with unrelated content, and articles only containing a protocol were excluded. The FFQs were categorized based on: (1) number of food items in to short (≤80 items) and long (>80 items) and; (2) the aim of the FFQ to explore total consumption patternutrients (general) or to detect specific nutrient(s)/food group(s) (specialized). @*RESULTS@#Sixteen reasonably validated questionnaires were identified. However, only 13 presented a reproducibility assessment. Ten FFQs were categorized as general (7 long, 3 short) and 6 as specialized (3 long, 3 short). The correlation coefficients for nutrient intake between dietary records or recalls and FFQs were 0.07-0.82 for long (general: 0.07-0.82 and specialized: 0.26-0.67) and 0.20-0.67 for short (general: 0.24-0.54 and specialized: 0.20-0.42) FFQs. Long FFQs showed higher validity and reproducibility than short FFQs. Reproducibility of FFQs was acceptable (0.32-0.89). The strongest correlations were reported by studies with shorter intervals between FFQs. @*CONCLUSIONS@#FFQs designed for the Iranian population appear to be appropriate tools for dietary assessment. Despite their acceptable reproducibility, their validity for assessing specific nutrients and their applicability for populations other than those they were developed for may be questionable.
ABSTRACT
Obesity is associated with hypertension and a cluster of metabolic disturbances that mediates the development and progression of chronic disease. The aim of this paper was to study the body mass index [BMI] and waist circumference [WC] distribution of Moroccan women of child-bearing age and to examine their relationship with obesity-related conditions. We examined data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 1995 on 1212 women 15-49 years old, sampled from urban and rural areas of El Jadida, a province of Morocco. Systolic [SBP] and diastolic [DBF] blood pressure, weight, height and waist circumference [WC] were measured and BMI was calculated as weight [kg]/height [m]2. Fasting plasma cholesterol [TC], triglycerides [TG], insulin and glucose were collected in a sub-sample of 534 women. Age, socioeconomic status [SES], fasting plasma insulin, and blood pressure were each associated with obesity [BMI > 30] or central obesity [WC > 88 cm]. Several risk factors for the metabolic syndrome [high glucose, insulin, TG, CHOL, BP and WC] were prevalent in association with high BMI and WC. Among obese women, more than 70% had the metabolic syndrome, compared to approximately 45% of overweight women and 30% of normal weight women [P <0.0001]. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome increased with SES [P = 0.01] and was higher in urban compared to rural area of residence [P = 0.006]. The development of viable strategies for prevention of insulin resistance and obesity is a pressing priority