Design and development of an instrument to measure overall lifestyle habits for epidemiological research: the Mediterranean Lifestyle (MEDLIFE) index

In this study by Sotos-Prieto et al. (2015), the authors undertook the development of a questionnaire tool, The Mediterranean Lifestyle (MEDLIFE) index, which is composed of 28 items designed to measure conformity to a Mediterranean lifestyle in terms of nutrition (15 items), dietary habits (seven items), physical activity, and social patterns (six items). The questionnaire was administered to a sample of participants from the Aragon Workers’ Health Study cohort (n = 988), showing a substantial degree of fidelity and positive relationships with other indices, namely, the Alternate Healthy Eating Index, the Alternate Mediterranean Diet Index, and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener. The authors comment that MEDLIFE is a novel and efficient index tool that performs a holistic assessment of lifestyle patterns, and is useful in epidemiological studies. [NPID: Lifestyle, Mediterranean diet, physical activity]

Year: 2015

Reference: Sotos-Prieto, M., Moreno-Franco, B., Ordovás, J. M., León, M., Casasnovas, J. A., & Peñalvo, J. L. (2015). Design and development of an instrument to measure overall lifestyle habits for epidemiological research: the Mediterranean Lifestyle (MEDLIFE) index. Public health nutrition, 18(6), 959–967. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980014001360