Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Preschooler (NutriSTEP): validation and test-retest reliability of a parent-administered questionnaire assessing nutrition risk of preschoolers.

OBJECTIVES: Study 1: To establish the validity of scores on Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Preschooler (NutriSTEP), a community-based parent-administered screening tool for assessing nutrition risk, by comparing scores to an expert rating. Study 2: To demonstrate test-retest reliability of NutriSTEP. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Study 1: Parents of 269 preschoolers (of 294 parents recruited from the community), completed the NutriSTEP questionnaire; a registered dietitian (RD) assessed the nutritional status (based on medical and nutritional history, 3 days of dietary recall and anthropometric measurements) of these preschoolers and rated their nutritional risk (1 (low) to 10 (high risk)). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to establish validity and determine appropriate cut points based on sensitivity and specificity. Study 2: Parents of 140 preschoolers (of 161 recruited) completed NutriSTEP on two occasions. Intraclass correlation (ICC) and kappa were used to assess reliability. RESULTS: Study 1: Scores on NutriSTEP and the RD rating were correlated (r=0.48, P=0.01). Area under the ROC curve for the high risk RD rating (score 8+) and the moderate risk rating (score 5+) were 81.5 and 73.8%, respectively. A moderate risk cut point of >20 and high risk cut point of >25 were identified for the NutriSTEP scores. Study 2: The NutriSTEP score was reliable between administrations (ICC=0.89, F=16.7, P<0.001). Most items on the questionnaire had adequate (kappa>0.5) or excellent (kappa>0.75) agreement. CONCLUSIONS: The NutriSTEP questionnaire is both valid and reliable for determining nutritional risk in preschoolers.

Exercise stress alters the percentage of splenic lymphocyte subsets in response to mitogen but not in response to interleukin-1.

Results of previous work from this laboratory demonstrated that reduced murine splenic lymphocyte proliferation in response to Concanavalin A (Con A) is associated with acute exercise stress. The present study was conducted to determine whether the stress of physical work further affects the expression of splenic lymphocyte phenotypes following in vitro stimulation by the T-cell mitogen, Con A, and also by interleukin-1 (IL1). Mice in this study were assigned to one of five treatment conditions. Two groups of mice were exposed only to the noise and vibration of a treadmill for 8 weeks; one of these groups was given an acute exhaustive run. Three groups of mice were exposed to 8 weeks of treadmill training: one group was sacrificed immediately after training, a second group was sacrificed 72 h after training, and a third group was rested for 72 h and then given an acute exhaustive run. There was a significant effect of stimulation by Con A on the percentage of splenic lymphocytes positive for Thy1.2, Lyt-2, L3T4, and goat anti-mouse Ig, regardless of treatment condition. Acute exercise, however, affected the magnitude of the response. There was a significantly greater increase in the percentage of Thy1.2+ and, especially of, Lyt-2+ cells in stimulated splenic lymphocytes from untrained mice given an exhaustive exercise session compared with controls and with trained mice. There was no significant effect of the addition of IL1 to any culture, irrespective of treatment condition. These results suggest that reduced mitogenesis after acute exercise stress exposure may be related to the increased appearance of Lyt-2+ (T suppressor) cells.