ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0373-650X
Current Organisation
The University of Edinburgh
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-06-2019
Abstract: To determine whether a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a short dietary assessment tool can be used to accurately estimate the Eatwell Guide proportions (a plate-based food model) of diets of adults living in Scotland. The cross-sectional study was conducted as a follow up of the 2010 Scottish Health Survey (participants aged 18-65 years old). Proportions of the Eatwell Guide food groups (starchy carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables (F&V), dairy and alternatives, protein foods and oils and spreads) were calculated from the Scottish Health Survey Eating Habits Module (SHeS EHM), Scottish Collaborative Group FFQ (SCG FFQ) and a seven-day estimated food diary (reference method), and compared using the Aitchison method and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. Bland-Altman analyses assessed mean difference and 95% limits of agreement between the methods for each food group. Ninety-six adults were included (mean (SD) age = 51.4 (11.1) years body mass index = 27.1 (4.9) kg/m The SCG FFQ could be used to estimate Eatwell Guide proportions and monitor compliance to the Eatwell Guide recommendations and could be improved with small changes. The SHeS EHM is less suitable, but additional questions on dairy foods, and oils and spreads would improve its ability to estimate the Eatwell Guide proportions.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-08-2011
DOI: 10.1038/MP.2011.85
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-2003
DOI: 10.1079/PHN2002429
Abstract: To compare different statistical methods for assessing the relative validity of a self-administered, 150-item, semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with 4-day weighed diet records (WR). Subjects completed the Scottish Collaborative Group FFQ and carried out a 4-day WR. Relative agreement between the FFQ and WR for energy-adjusted nutrient intakes was assessed by Pearson and Spearman rank correlation coefficients, the percentages of subjects classified into the same and opposite thirds of intake, and Cohen's weighted kappa. Forty-one men, mean age 36 (range 21-56) years, and 40 women, mean age 33 (range 19-58) years, recruited from different locations in Aberdeen, Scotland. Spearman correlation coefficients tended to be lower than Pearson correlation coefficients, and were above 0.5 for 10 of the 27 nutrients in men and 17 of the 27 nutrients in women. For nutrients with Spearman correlation coefficients above 0.5, the percentage of subjects correctly classified into thirds ranged from 39 to 78%, and weighted kappa values ranged from 0.23 to 0.66. Both Spearman correlation coefficients and weighted kappa values are useful in assessing the relative validity of estimates of nutrient intake by FFQs. Spearman correlation coefficients above 0.5, more than 50% of subjects correctly classified and less than 10% of subjects grossly misclassified into thirds, and weighted kappa values above 0.4 are recommended for nutrients of interest in epidemiological studies.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-08-2017
DOI: 10.1111/PPE.12386
Abstract: Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with increased childhood body mass index (BMI), but the relationship may be due to confounding by maternal factors. This study tested the hypothesis that siblings born to mothers who begin to smoke between pregnancies will have higher BMI than older unexposed siblings. Maternal details from the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank were linked to the Study of Trends in Obesity in North East Scotland which holds offspring BMI at 5 years of age. Change in maternal smoking status between pregnancies was linked to offspring BMI and also to the difference in BMI between siblings. Maternal smoking status in successive pregnancies was linked to child BMI at age 5 years in 6581 mother-child pairs of whom 718 included sibling pars. Children whose mothers had quit, started smoking or smoked in consecutive pregnancies had higher BMI compared with those not exposed to maternal smoking. Siblings born after onset of maternal smoking had higher mean BMI z score (0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.01, 0.36) compared with unexposed older siblings. Mean BMI z score was also higher by mean of 0.10 (95% CI 0.01, 0.20) in younger sibling compared with older siblings born to mothers who smoked in both pregnancies. BMI z score was not significantly different between siblings whose mothers quit between pregnancies. In utero exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy may increase the likelihood of increased BMI in childhood.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-01-2012
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE10781
Abstract: Understanding the determinants of healthy mental ageing is a priority for society today. So far, we know that intelligence differences show high stability from childhood to old age and there are estimates of the genetic contribution to intelligence at different ages. However, attempts to discover whether genetic causes contribute to differences in cognitive ageing have been relatively uninformative. Here we provide an estimate of the genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change in intelligence across most of the human lifetime. We used genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 1,940 unrelated in iduals whose intelligence was measured in childhood (age 11 years) and again in old age (age 65, 70 or 79 years). We use a statistical method that allows genetic (co)variance to be estimated from SNP data on unrelated in iduals. We estimate that causal genetic variants in linkage disequilibrium with common SNPs account for 0.24 of the variation in cognitive ability change from childhood to old age. Using bivariate analysis, we estimate a genetic correlation between intelligence at age 11 years and in old age of 0.62. These estimates, derived from rarely available data on lifetime cognitive measures, warrant the search for genetic causes of cognitive stability and change.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2013
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Geraldine McNeill.