Omidvar Nasrin, Ghazi-Tabatabie Mahmood, Harrison Gail G, Eghtesadi Shahriar, Mahboob Soltan-Ali, Pourbakht Mahdi
School of Nutrition and Public Health, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.
Food Nutr Bull. 2002 Mar;23(1):73-82. doi: 10.1177/156482650202300110.
A high percentage of women in their childbearing years suffer from subclinical vitamin A deficiency; 10% to 20% of pregnant women worldwide are vitamin A deficient. This study aimed to design and validate a short food-frequency questionnaire to serve as a simple screening tool for vitamin A status in women of childbearing age. The sample consisted of 187 healthy, nonpregnant, nonlactating women 15 to 49 years of age, from urban and rural areas of Marand district in East Azerbaijan. Dietary intake was evaluated by a face-to-face interview using a 24-hour dietary recall for two consecutive days and a 41-item qualitative food frequency questionnaire. Height, weight, and serum retinol were measured. Serum retinol values were less than 20 micrograms/dl for three subjects, while an additional 34 subjects (18%) had values between 21 and 30 micrograms/dl. Principal-component analysis performed on the food-frequency questionnaire identified five components that together defined 34.4% of the variance in estimated vitamin A intake and were used to derive a 20-item short food-frequency questionnaire. Internal consistency of the short instrument was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = .59). Serum retinol was significantly correlated with total vitamin A intake and with intake of vitamin A from plant sources, as estimated by the short food-frequency questionnaire. Important sources of provitamin A in these women's diets included some not typical of other populations: nuts and green leaves of types used elsewhere in small quantities as herbs, but important in Iran because the amount and frequency of consumption are relatively high. We conclude that the questionnaire is relatively valid and potentially useful in identifying women at risk for vitamin A deficiency in this population.
育龄期女性中很大比例患有亚临床维生素A缺乏症；全球10%至20%的孕妇维生素A缺乏。本研究旨在设计并验证一份简短的食物频率问卷，作为育龄期女性维生素A状况的简易筛查工具。样本包括187名年龄在15至49岁之间、健康、未怀孕且未哺乳的女性，来自东阿塞拜疆省马兰德地区的城乡。通过连续两天进行24小时饮食回顾的面对面访谈以及一份包含41个条目的定性食物频率问卷来评估饮食摄入量。测量身高、体重和血清视黄醇。三名受试者的血清视黄醇值低于20微克/分升，另有34名受试者（18%）的值在21至30微克/分升之间。对食物频率问卷进行主成分分析，确定了五个成分，它们共同解释了估计维生素A摄入量中34.4%的方差，并用于得出一份包含20个条目的简短食物频率问卷。该简短工具的内部一致性可以接受（克朗巴哈系数α = 0.59）。根据简短食物频率问卷估计，血清视黄醇与总维生素A摄入量以及植物来源维生素A的摄入量显著相关。这些女性饮食中维生素A原的重要来源包括一些与其他人群不同的食物：坚果以及在其他地方少量用作草药的绿叶蔬菜，但在伊朗很重要，因为食用量和频率相对较高。我们得出结论，该问卷在识别该人群中维生素A缺乏风险女性方面相对有效且可能有用。
