Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Department of Community Medicine and Epidemiology, Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
Nutr J. 2024 Aug 6;23(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s12937-024-00976-8.
Collection of detailed dietary data is labor intensive and expensive, harmonization of existing data sets has been proposed as an effective tool for research questions in which individual studies are underpowered.
In this paper, we describe the methodology used to retrospectively harmonize nutritional data from multiple sources, based on the individual participant data of all available studies, which collected nutritional data in Israel between 1963 and 2014. This collaboration was established in order to study the association of red and processed meat with colorectal cancer. Two types of nutritional questionnaires, the Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) and the 24-h dietary recall (24HR recall), and different food composition tables, were used by the participating studies. The main exposure of interest included type of meat (total meat, red meat, and poultry) and level of processing.
A total of 29,560 Israeli men and women were enrolled. In studies using FFQ,the weighted mean intakes of total, red, processed meat, and poultry were 95, 27, 37 and 58 gr/day and 92, 25, 10, and 66 gr/day in studies using 24HR recall, respectively.. Despite several methodological challenges, we successfully harmonized nutritional data from the different studies.
This paper emphasizes the significance and feasibility of harmonization of previously collected nutritional data, offering an opportunity to examine associations between a range of dietary exposures and the outcome of interest, while minimizing costs and time in epidemiological studies.
详细饮食数据的收集既费力又昂贵，因此提出了协调现有数据集的方法，以解决个体研究效力不足的研究问题。
本文描述了一种基于以色列 1963 年至 2014 年间所有可用研究的个体参与者数据，对来自多个来源的营养数据进行回顾性协调的方法。这项合作是为了研究红肉类和加工肉类与结直肠癌之间的关联而建立的。参与研究使用了两种类型的营养问卷，即食物频率问卷（FFQ）和 24 小时膳食回忆（24HR 回忆），以及不同的食物成分表。主要暴露因素包括肉类类型（总肉、红肉和禽肉）和加工水平。
共纳入 29560 名以色列男女。在使用 FFQ 的研究中，总肉、红肉、加工肉和禽肉的加权平均摄入量分别为 95、27、37 和 58 克/天，而在使用 24HR 回忆的研究中，分别为 92、25、10 和 66 克/天。尽管存在一些方法学挑战，但我们成功地协调了不同研究的营养数据。
本文强调了协调先前收集的营养数据的重要性和可行性，为在流行病学研究中检验一系列饮食暴露与目标结局之间的关联提供了机会，同时最大限度地减少了成本和时间。
