American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 125, No. 6: 999-1011
Copyright © 1987 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
research-article |
THE RELIABILITY OF DIETARY HISTORY FROM THE DISTANT PAST1
Reprint requests to Dr. Tim Byers
A major barrier to the conduct and interpretation of retrospective studies of diet and cancer has been uncertainty about the reliability of retrospective measures of diet from the distant past. The authors therefore conducted a study to assess the reliability of retrospective dietary reports and to determine whether the retrospective report or the report of current diet is the better indicator of past diet. Persons (n = 323) originally interviewed regarding their diets in 1975–1979 were retrospectively reinterviewed in 1984–1985. There was little difference between the retrospective reports and the reports of current diet when group means were examined as indicators of past diet. The retrospective reports tended to overestimate the past frequency of consumption for most foods, whereas the reports of current diet tended to yield underestimates. Because food frequency-based dietary history data are more useful for ranking study subjects than for generating estimates of group means, correlation analysis was used as the principal assessment of the reliability of the two indicators of past diet. The retrospective reports more closely correlated with the diet reported at the original interview than did the report of current diet (for 37 of 47 foods). Nutrient indices based on the retrospective history were also more highly correlated with those of the original diet than were indices based on the current diet. No differences were noted in the reliability of retrospective reports according to age or sex. Subjects accurately reported perceptions of changes in their consumption of most foods, yet an estimate of past diet created by adjusting current diet for perceived change did not correlate more highly with the original diet than did the retrospective report. The authors conclude that assessing current diet to make inference about diet from the distant past does not yield more reliable estimates of past diet than does the retrospective dietary history. The best estimate of diet from several years in the past may be derived directly from a retrospective dietary history which focuses on that past period of time.
diet; epidemiologic methods
1 Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2211 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. E. Chavarro, B. A. Rosner, L. Sampson, C. Willey, P. Tocco, W. C. Willett, Wm. C. Chumlea, and K. B. Michels Validity of Adolescent Diet Recall 48 Years Later Am. J. Epidemiol., November 18, 2009; (2009) kwp299v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. E. Chavarro, K. B. Michels, S. Isaq, B. A. Rosner, L. Sampson, C. Willey, P. Tocco, W. C. Willett, and W. C. Chumlea Validity of Maternal Recall of Preschool Diet After 43 Years Am. J. Epidemiol., May 1, 2009; 169(9): 1148 - 1157. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. M. Moeller, N. Parekh, L. Tinker, C. Ritenbaugh, B. Blodi, R. B. Wallace, J. A. Mares, and for the CAREDS Research Study Group Associations Between Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Lutein and Zeaxanthin in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS): Ancillary Study of the Women's Health Initiative. Arch Ophthalmol, August 1, 2006; 124(8): 1151 - 1162. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 X. Gao, M. P. LaValley, and K. L. Tucker Prospective Studies of Dairy Product and Calcium Intakes and Prostate Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis J Natl Cancer Inst, December 7, 2005; 97(23): 1768 - 1777. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. R Marshall Commentary: About that measurement problem Int. J. Epidemiol., December 1, 2005; 34(6): 1376 - 1377. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Q. Shi, Z. Zhang, G. Li, P. C. Pillow, L. M. Hernandez, M. R. Spitz, and Q. Wei Sex Differences in Risk of Lung Cancer Associated with Methylene-tetrahydrofolate Reductase Polymorphisms Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., June 1, 2005; 14(6): 1477 - 1484. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Q. Shi, Z. Zhang, A. S. Neumann, G. Li, M. R. Spitz, and Q. Wei Case-control analysis of thymidylate synthase polymorphisms and risk of lung cancer Carcinogenesis, March 1, 2005; 26(3): 649 - 656. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. S. Maruti, D. Feskanich, G. A. Colditz, A. L. Frazier, L. A. Sampson, K. B. Michels, D. J. Hunter, D. Spiegelman, and W. C. Willett Adult Recall of Adolescent Diet: Reproducibility and Comparison with Maternal Reporting Am. J. Epidemiol., January 1, 2005; 161(1): 89 - 97. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. L. Ambrosini, S. A. H. van Roosbroeck, D. Mackerras, L. Fritschi, N. H. de Klerk, and A. W. Musk The Reliability of Ten-Year Dietary Recall: Implications for Cancer Research J. Nutr., August 1, 2003; 133(8): 2663 - 2668. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 U Kesmodel and S F Olsen Self reported alcohol intake in pregnancy: comparison between four methods J Epidemiol Community Health, October 1, 2001; 55(10): 738 - 745. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Suarez, K. A. Hendricks, S. P. Cooper, A. M. Sweeney, R. J. Hardy, and R. D. Larsen Neural Tube Defects among Mexican Americans Living on the US-Mexico Border: Effects of Folic Acid and Dietary Folate Am. J. Epidemiol., December 1, 2000; 152(11): 1017 - 1023. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. Vingard, L. Alfredsson, and H. Malchau Osteoarthrosis of the Hip in Women and Its Relationship to Physical Load from Sports Activities Am. J. Sports Med., January 1, 1998; 26(1): 78 - 82. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. Vingård, L. Alfredsson, and H. Malchau Osteoarthrosis of the hip in women and its relation to physical load at work and in the home Ann Rheum Dis, May 1, 1997; 56(5): 293 - 298. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|