Structure of the standardized computerized 24-h diet recall interview used as reference method in the 22 centers participating in the EPIC project

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A computerized 24-h diet recall interview program (EPIC-SOFT) was developed for use in a large European multi-center study, namely the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). This program, which was adapted for each participating country and translated into nine languages, was developed to standardize interviews between the 22 EPIC centers. Common rules were pre-entered into the system to describe, quantify and probe ∼1500–2200 foods and 150–350 recipes. Common methods used to classify and export the EPIC-SOFT dietary data facilitate their exchange, comparison and analysis. So far, EPIC-SOFT is the only available computerized 24-h diet recall system developed to provide comparable food consumption data between several European countries.

Introduction

The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) is a large multicenter prospective cohort study involving ∼460 000 middle-aged men and women from nine European countries (Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Sweden and Denmark) [1]. Within each country, a dietary questionnaire was developed and validated to estimate the usual individual food intakes of the study subjects [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. An internal calibration method was adopted, based on a single 24-h diet recall interview collected from a representative sample of ∼1200–5000 individuals per cohort. The rationale for this approach was to use the 24-h diet recall interview as a common reference method to adjust, at the group level, for systematic over- or underestimation of the mean food (or nutrient) intakes measured by the country-specific baseline questionnaires [11], [12], [13]. At the same time, this calibration method will be used to correct for attenuation bias when measuring the relative risk between diet and disease. The statistical power, to detect a real relationship between the dietary exposure and cancer or other chronic diseases, could thereby be increased.

One of the main statistical conditions for using the calibration approach in the EPIC project was that 24-h diet recall is highly standardized within and between countries. Despite some recent interest in the calibration concept in studies on diet [14], there is still little experience with the methodological and practical problems of standardizing dietary assessment methods within the context of large international multi-center studies. A software program named ‘EPIC-SOFT’ was therefore developed at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in collaboration with the EPIC centers, to ensure the highest possible level of standardization of the 24-h diet recall interviews collected in the 22 EPIC centers.

The development of EPIC-SOFT was conducted in three main steps. The first stage was to identify the potential sources of errors associated with the 24-h diet recall measurements by carrying out a literature review [15], [16], [17], [18] and by analyzing a large pool of 24-h diet recalls collected during the EPIC pilot phases. The second stage was to develop the approaches to prevent or minimize each identified potential source of error associated with the 24-h diet recall in the international context of the EPIC study. The third stage was to develop the EPIC-SOFT program and country-specific versions prepared for each of the nine participating countries.

In this paper, we present the EPIC-SOFT program and its common structure and interview interface adopted to optimize the standardization of the dietary interview procedure within and between the EPIC centers. The rationale and methodological concepts developed for standardizing the computerized 24-h diet recall interviews are presented in another paper [19].

Section snippets

Main objectives and functions of the software

The main functions and logical structures implemented in the EPIC-SOFT program were designed to conduct interactive dietary interviews following a strictly standardized procedure within and between the EPIC centers:

  • 1.

    Information on all of the foods and beverages consumed during the recall day needed to be collected, entered, and coded automatically according to common rules.

  • 2.

    The software had to be user-friendly and convenient for use in large populations of different linguistic, socio–cultural,

General conceptual structure of EPIC-SOFT

The general structure of EPIC-SOFT (Fig. 1) was designed to pre-define and standardize the pathways to be followed during the 24-h diet recalls across all countries. This overall structure relies first on a common definition of ‘foods’, or ‘mixed recipes’ that might be reported by the subjects: a ‘food’ is a single item which is perceived and quantified as such (e.g. fruits, vegetables, fish, cakes, bread, sweets). A ‘mixed recipe’ is a complex dish where all the ingredients cannot be

Presentation of the EPIC-SOFT interface

The EPIC-SOFT interface was developed using the same basic design common to all country versions. This interface was conceived to equally guide all of the interviewers during the whole 24-h diet recall interview and minimize potential errors which might be due to varying degrees of knowledge of nutrition or computing. All common functions, in a given screen, are summarized in a pull down menu and can always be activated through the mouse, hot keys or using the keyboard (Fig. 2).

The 24-h diet

Maintenance/update of the EPIC-SOFT databases

Like any open-ended method, the computerized 24-h diet recall method needs regular update of its databases in order to add new foods, recipes, or other information reported by the study subjects. To maintain a high level of control and standardization of EPIC-SOFT databases and to facilitate updating, it was decided that only one version will be available per country and that any modifications to the EPIC-SOFT files will be centralized at IARC. In addition, a four-step hierarchical structure

EPIC-SOFT software and hardware requirements

EPIC-SOFT is written in Clipper. The system is PC IBM-compatible and needs ∼2 Mb of RAM memory and at least 5 Mb of hard disk space. MS-DOS version 3.00 or later is required.

Conclusion

In this paper we presented the general structure and principal functions of a new software (EPIC-SOFT) developed to obtain standardized 24-h diet recall interviews between the nine European countries involved in the EPIC project. It was decided to develop a computerized 24-h diet recall interview as it was felt that this was the most appropriate methodological approach to standardize the interview procedure [21], [22], and to minimize the potential sources of error associated with the 24-h diet

Summary

A computerized 24-h diet recall interview program (EPIC-SOFT) was developed for use as a common reference calibration method between nine European countries involved in a large prospective cohort study, EPIC. The EPIC-SOFT program, which was adapted for each participating country and translated into 9 languages (Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Sweden and Spanish), was developed to perform highly standardized interactive interviews in 22 centers involved in the study. The

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