Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Physiology Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology; Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Kerman, Iran

2 Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

3 Cardiovascular Research Center, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has caused limitations, in patients’ accessibility in clinical and research settings. We sought whether telenutrition could be applied interchangeably with face-to-face interview for dietary intake assessment by 24-hour recall in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: Sixty-eight females with T2DM aged 50-55 years were enrolled randomly in a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study. The patients completed three consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls. The first one was a face-to-face interview, and the subsequent two recalls were conducted by telephone call. The total energy and 18 selected nutrients intake were calculated for the three interviews.
Results: The mean (±SD) age of participants was 53.97±2.14 years. The face-to-face interview resulted in significantly higher total energy and 18 selected nutrients intake than the two telenutrition interviews (P value range: 0.031 - 0.001). No significant differences were found between the data provided from the two telenutrition interviews.
Conclusion: Telenutrition underreports and underestimates the total energy and nutrient intakes compared with the face-to-face interview in the 24-hour dietary recall. Therefore, it cannot be recommended to be applied interchangeably with a face-to-face interview for dietary intake assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in patients whose nutrition assessment is of clinical importance. A combination of the two methods using new communication applications (e.g. WhatsApp) may cover the defects of telenutrition method.
 

Highlights

Mohammad Reza Mahmood(Google scholar)(Pubmed)

 

 

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