Design and Reproducibility of Food Propensity Questionnaire for Characterizing Intake of Pyrethroid and...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Nutritional Epidemiology
• Toxicology

Background:

• No specific food propensity questionnaire (FPQ) exists for assessing pesticide intake in adolescents.
• Dietary exposure to pesticides, particularly pyrethroids (PYR) and organophosphates (OP), is a public health concern for this age group.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and validate a novel FPQ tailored for adolescent pesticide intake.
• To specifically evaluate fruit and vegetable consumption as sources of PYR and OP exposure.
• To assess the reproducibility of the newly developed FPQ.

Main Methods:

• The FPQ was constructed using high-risk food data from EFSA pesticide residue reports.
• 99 parents/guardians of 10-12-year-old boys completed the FPQ twice over several months.
• Reproducibility was assessed using Cohen's weighted kappa statistic.

Main Results:

• The 111-item FPQ showed good overall reproducibility (median kappa 0.607).
• The subset of 54 questions on PYR and OP sources also demonstrated good reproducibility (median kappa 0.624).
• High reproducibility was observed for specific foods like tomatoes, lettuce, and pork lard.

Conclusions:

• The developed FPQ is a reliable tool for estimating PYR and OP pesticide exposure in adolescents.
• This questionnaire can support future epidemiological studies and public health surveillance of pesticide residues.
• The FPQ aids in understanding dietary pesticide exposure in specific adolescent populations.