Validation of a screener to measure overall lifestyle habits: The MEDiterranean LIFEstyle index (LB375)

The aim of this study was to conduct an external validation of the previous developed MEDiterranean LIFEstyle 28‐item (MEDLIFE) index. A full length validated 142‐item questionnaire (full‐Q) (which includes a food frequency questionnaire) and the MEDLIFE index assessing three blocks: food consumption, traditional Mediterranean dietary habits and physical activity, rest and social interaction patterns) were administered to 196 adults men and women (mean age 41.4±9.2 y) from the Program SI! Study. MEDLIFE index had an intraclass correlation coefficient=0.544, showing acceptable ability to rank participants by MEDLIFE‐derived from full‐Q. Absolute agreement measured by kappa statistics showed strong concordance (k=0.81‐1) for 10.7% of the items; and good (k=0.61‐0.80) to moderate (k=0.41‐0.60) for most of the items evaluated. In the crude classification analysis, 52.1% of the participants were classified in the same tertile by both instruments whereas only 7.14% were in the opposite tertile. Bland Alman’s analysis showed limits of agreement ranged from 3.67 to 6.81(mean 1.58). In conclusion, the MEDLIFE index is a valid instrument to measure overall Mediterranean lifestyle, and may be used as a short screening tool in clinical and epidemiological studies Grant Funding Source : PI11/01885