Food frequency questionnaire for foods high in sodium: Validation with the triads method

This study aimed to validate a food frequency questionnaire for foods high in sodium (FFQ-FHS) in a population aged & GE;18 years and to test its reproducibility. This cross-sectional study included 50 individuals (& GE;18 years) of both sexes. In addition to the FFQ-FHS, four 24-h dietary recalls (24hRs) were conducted and a socioeconomic and lifestyle questionnaire was administered. Two 24-h urinary excretions were collected for sodium analysis, and anthropometry was performed. For validation, the triad method was applied using the validity coefficient (& rho;). For reproducibility, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), 95% confidence interval, kappa coefficient, and Bland-Altman plots were used to check for agreement. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to verify the data distribution. The validity coefficients for daily energy-adjusted sodium intake were high for the 24hR (& rho;RAI = 0.85) and weak for the FFQ-FHS (FFQAI = 0.26) and biomarker (& rho;BAI = 0.20). The ICC values were 0.68 for unadjusted sodium and 0.54 for energy-adjusted sodium intake. The weighed Kappa scores were 0.49 (p<0.01) and 0.260 (p = 0.02) for unadjusted and adjusted sodium intake, respectively. Although the FFQ-FHS is reproducible, it is not valid for the assessment of sodium intake and cannot be the sole instrument used for this purpose.

Automated summary

This study aimed to validate a food frequency questionnaire for foods high in sodium (FFQ-FHS) and test its reproducibility. The results showed that the FFQ-FHS is not valid for assessing sodium intake, although it is reproducible. The 24hR method is more accurate for measuring daily sodium intake.