Assessment of Protein Energy Malnutrition in Older Persons, Part I: History, Examination, Body Composition, and Screening Tools

Poor nutritional habits are predictors of poor outcome in very old hospitalized patients

This paper is based on the first sessions of the same name that were held on May 12,1997 at the International Workshop on Consumption Measures and Models for Use in Policy Development, Bethesda, MD. The session chair was Jurgen Rehm; presenters were Susan Bondy, Deborah Dawson, Kaye Fillmore, Thomas Greenfield, Deborah Ha-sin, Jurgen Rehm, Anders Romelsjo, and John Searles; and discussants were Eckart Kuhlhorn and Linda Sobell.

Measuring quantity, frequency, and volume of drinking

Systematic errors in middle-aged women's estimates of energy intake: comparing three self-report measures to total energy expenditure from doubly labeled water

To date, no standardized measures have been developed to evaluate the mealtime behavior of children with autism. The Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI) was designed to measure mealtime behavior problems observed in children with autism. Caregivers of 40 typically developing children and 68 children with autism completed the BAMBI, the Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS), the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS), the Youth/Adolescent Questionnaire (YAQ), and a 24-hour recall interview. The BAMBI demonstrated good internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, a clear factor structure, and strong construct and criterion-related validity in the measurement of mealtime behavior problems in children with autism.

Development and Validation of an Inventory to Assess Mealtime Behavior Problems in Children with Autism

We compared estimates of nutrient intake by three diet assessment methods (24-hour recall, 3-day food record, food frequency questionnaire) in a random sample of 73 females and 77 males from the Framingham Offspring/Spouse Study. The results differed according to analytic method. Estimates of group mean intake from the 24-hour recall and 3-day records were similar in both women and men, with differences of less than 10% for most nutrients. The estimates of mean intake calculated from the food frequency questionnaire generally differed from those obtained by the other methods, with higher estimated intakes in women and generally lower estimated intakes in men. Spearman rank correlations between the individuals' nutrient intakes estimated by the three diet assessment methods were modest (r = 0.08-0.68, most below 0.50) and comparable in the comparisons of the 24-hour recall or food frequency questionnaire with the 3-day records. Our data suggest the interchangeability of the recall and record methods and their preference over the food frequency questionnaire for mean estimates of group nutrient intake. The food frequency questionnaire appears to be of some utility in ranking individuals according to the usual intake, although these data are not informative in comparing this method with multiple days of recall or records beyond 3 days. This research underscores the need to develop and evaluate short methods of diet assessment in specific populations of interest.

S S Martin-Munley

Papers

Comparison of techniques for estimating nutrient intake: the Framingham Study.