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Changes in Dietary Variety Scores over Six Months Among 4‐ to 8‐year‐old Zambian Children
Author(s) -
Lewis Bess,
Dyer Brian,
Siamusantu Ward,
Klemm Rolf,
Talegawkar Sameera,
Schulze Kerry,
Palmer Amanda,
West Keith
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.898.20
Subject(s) - medicine , demography , food group , baseline (sea) , recall , kappa , environmental health , biology , psychology , sociology , fishery , cognitive psychology , linguistics , philosophy
Dietary variety scores are often used as indicators of dietary quality, especially among women and children in resource‐poor settings. However, few studies have examined the stability of these scores over repeat measures. To study such change, we used data on dietary intakes of 4‐ to 8‐year old children living in rural Zambia (n=188) collected by 24 hour recall interviews conducted six months apart. We calculated two dietary variety scores from each 24 hour recall: a 14‐food group score and a count of individual foods. At both baseline in the late post‐harvest season and follow‐up in the early harvest season, the median food group score was 6 out of 14 [IQR (baseline and followup): 5,7) and the median food count was 8 [IQR(baseline): 6, 9.5; IQR(followup): 7, 10]. Mean absolute change from baseline to follow‐up was 1.2 for the food group score (95% CI: 1.1, 1.4) and 2.3 for the foods count (95% CI: 2.1, 2.6). Agreement between tertile classifications at baseline and follow‐up was poor (both scores: kappa<0.15). Though summary statistics of two dietary variety scores appear stable across repeat measures taken six months apart, analysis of within‐individual change reveals fluctuation in both score and tertile classification. Funded by HarvestPlus.