Biomaterial Database

Measurement of exposure to nutrients: an approach to the selection of informative foods. 1996

S D Mark, and D G Thomas, and A Decarli

Biostatistics Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Frequently, epidemiologic questionnaires are designed to measure several individual level exposures, including exposure to one or more nutrients. Although most nutrients are contained in a large number of foods, constraints on questionnaire length permit the inclusion of only a subset of these. In this paper, the authors review the two common methods of food selection, and they propose two new methods. When the intent is to estimate the effect of the nutrient on disease risk using a logistic regression model, the authors show that their Max_r method is optimal. With the use of case-control data, they examine the assumption of non-differential measurement error that is essential to the validity of all analyses that rely on shortened questionnaires. They conclude by combining the statistical considerations developed for judging adequacy of a selection method with their empirical results and suggest new goals for dietary questionnaires and a new approach to questionnaire construction consistent with those goals.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009751	Nutritional Requirements	The amounts of various substances in food needed by an organism to sustain healthy life.	Dietary Requirements,Nutrition Requirements,Dietary Requirement,Nutrition Requirement,Nutritional Requirement,Requirement, Dietary,Requirement, Nutrition,Requirement, Nutritional,Requirements, Dietary,Requirements, Nutrition,Requirements, Nutritional
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D004034	Diet Surveys	Systematic collections of factual data pertaining to the diet of a human population within a given geographic area.	Diet Survey,Survey, Diet,Surveys, Diet
D004812	Epidemiologic Methods	Research techniques that focus on study designs and data gathering methods in human and animal populations.	Epidemiologic Method,Epidemiological Methods,Methods, Epidemiologic,Epidemiological Method,Method, Epidemiologic,Method, Epidemiological,Methods, Epidemiological
D005518	Food Preferences	The selection of one food over another.	Food Selection,Food Preference,Food Selections,Preference, Food,Preferences, Food,Selection, Food,Selections, Food
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D015982	Bias	Any deviation of results or inferences from the truth, or processes leading to such deviation. Bias can result from several sources: one-sided or systematic variations in measurement from the true value (systematic error); flaws in study design; deviation of inferences, interpretations, or analyses based on flawed data or data collection; etc. There is no sense of prejudice or subjectivity implied in the assessment of bias under these conditions.	Aggregation Bias,Bias, Aggregation,Bias, Ecological,Bias, Statistical,Bias, Systematic,Ecological Bias,Outcome Measurement Errors,Statistical Bias,Systematic Bias,Bias, Epidemiologic,Biases,Biases, Ecological,Biases, Statistical,Ecological Biases,Ecological Fallacies,Ecological Fallacy,Epidemiologic Biases,Experimental Bias,Fallacies, Ecological,Fallacy, Ecological,Scientific Bias,Statistical Biases,Truncation Bias,Truncation Biases,Bias, Experimental,Bias, Scientific,Bias, Truncation,Biase, Epidemiologic,Biases, Epidemiologic,Biases, Truncation,Epidemiologic Biase,Error, Outcome Measurement,Errors, Outcome Measurement,Outcome Measurement Error