Feasibility and reliability of a questionnaire for evaluation of the exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollutants, diet and physical activity in 6-8-year-old children.
Ann Ig
; 27(4): 646-56, 2015.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26241109
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The MAPEC-Life project aims to study the biological effects of early exposure to air pollutants on the oral mucosa cells of school-age children in five Italian cities. A questionnaire was created to evaluate the association between outdoor and indoor airborne pollutants, lifestyle, diet and biomarker effects. The feasibility and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated.METHODS:
A questionnaire was drawn up to be filled in by the parents of 6-8-year-old children. It consisted of 148 questions on the children's health, physical activity, environmental exposures and the frequency of food consumption at the main meals. First we conducted a questionnaire feasibility study involving 53 volunteer parents. We then performed a reliability study by administering the questionnaire to a further 156 parents and again one month later (test/retest method). The correlations between answers at the first and second administration of the questionnaire were evaluated using the Kappa statistic and Spearman's coefficient.RESULTS:
After verifying the feasibility of the questionnaire, we conducted a reliability analysis on 132 completed questionnaires. The percentage of agreement between the first and the second responses given was over 70%, all K values being greater than 0.6. The analysis of calories and macronutrients also showed good agreement.CONCLUSIONS:
The questionnaire drawn up for the study proved to be sufficiently reliable for gathering information about the factors of interest in our study of the relationship between air pollution and early biological effects in children.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Health Status
/
Surveys and Questionnaires
/
Air Pollution, Indoor
/
Diet
/
Environmental Exposure
/
Motor Activity
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Ig
Journal subject:
MICROBIOLOGIA
/
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2015
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy