ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To study the reproducibility and validity of a French self-administered questionnaire (NAQAPNNS) evaluating the adequation of a subject with the French national nutrition and health program recommendations. METHODS: The reproducibility was estimated by weighted kappa in 48 subjects working in the administrative departments of the head office of the Institut Inter Régional pour la Santé in Tours aged from 21 to 63 years who filled the questionnaire NAQAPNNS twice with a two weeks interval. The validity was assessed in 524 hyperglycaemic subjects (fasting plasma glucose between 1.10g/l and 1.25g/l) aged from 25 to 70 years against a seven-day dietary recall using the Kruskall-Wallis test. Agreement between self-administration of the questionnaire and dietetic interview was evaluated by weighted kappa. RESULTS: The reproducibility was "good" (kappa≥0.67) except for recommendations on breads, cereals, potatoes and legumes (kappa=0.50) and sweetened foods consumption (kappa=0.54) which showed only "satisfactory" reproducibility. For each recommendation, subjects who reached it had dietary intakes closer to dietary references intakes (P<0.03). The agreement between self-administration and dietetic interview was "good" (kappa≥0.63) except for recommendations on added fats (kappa=0.41) and salt (kappa=0.50) consumption which were only "satisfactory". DISCUSSION: The NAQAPNNS questionnaire is a consistent and reproducible tool to evaluate adequation of a subject with French national nutritional recommendations. CONCLUSION: The self-administered questionnaire NAQAPNNS can be used in clinical practice or in epidemiological studies to detect subjects with a food imbalance and needing specific care.
