Development and application of the Meal and Snack Assessment (MESA) quality scale for children and adolescents using item response theory

Lemke, Stella; de Andrade, Dalton Francisco; de Fragas Hinnig, Patrícia; da Silva, Silvio Aparecido; Vincenzi, Silvana Ligia; Roberto, Denise Miguel Teixeira; Lobo, Adriana Soares; Vieira, Francilene Gracieli Kunradi; Di Pietro, Patricia Faria; de Assis, Maria Alice Altenburg

doi:10.1186/s12937-024-00948-y

Table 2 Schoolchildren estimates (proportion and 95% CI) by MESA levels in three years of WebCAAFE research

From: Development and application of the Meal and Snack Assessment (MESA) quality scale for children and adolescents using item response theory

Variables	Scale Levels
Variables	Healthy 18.3% (17.4–19.4)		Mixed 40.6% (39.0–42.3)		Unhealthy 41.0% (39.5–42.5)
Survey year (N = 6,372)	%	95%CI	%	95%CI	%	95%CI
2013	18.7	17.1–20.5	40.3	37.4–43.3	41.0	38.6–43.4
2014	18.3	16.8–19.8	40.9	37.9–44.0	40.8	37.7–44.0
2015	18.1	16.2–20.2	40.7	37.7–43.7	41.2	38.6–43.8
Sex (N = 6,372)
Boys	17.7	16.2–19.4	38.9	36.8–41.1	43.3	41.5–45.2^d
Girls	19.0	17.2–20.9	42.3	40.1–44.7	38.7	36.7–40.8^d
Age (N = 6,346)
7–9 years old	19.0	17.7–20.4	42.2	40.1–44.3	38.8	36.9–40.8^d
10–12 years old	17.2	15.5–19.1	38.2	36.0–40.4	44.6	42.7–46.5^d
Family income (N = 6,372)
1º tertile	18.8	17.1–20.7	42.7	40.1–45.5	38.4	35.9–41.0^d
2º tertile	18.2	16.3–20.2	40.6	37.6–43.7	41.2	38.9–43.6
3º tertile	17.9	16.0–19.9	37.7	35.2–40.3	44.4	41.6–47.2^d
School shift (N = 6,238)
Morning	19.2	18.2–20.3	39.0	36.6–41.5	41.8	39.6–44.1
Afternoon	17.5	15.8–19.4	42.3	40.1–44.5	40.2	38.1–42.3
Weight status WHO^a (N = 6,372)
Non-overweight, BMI Z-score for age < + 1	18.1	16.8–19.5	40.8	39.2–42.5	41.0	39.4–42.7
Overweight (including obesity), BMI Z-score for age ≥ + 1	18.8	17.2–20.4	40.3	37.2–43.3	41.1	38.5–43.6
Day of food intake report (N = 6,372)
Non-school days	17.0	14.9–19.3	39.0	35.4–42.7	44.0	40.6–47.5
School days	18.8	17.7–20.0	41.2	39.5–42.9	40.0	38.6–41.4
Frequency of school meal consumption (N = 5,462)
0–1 times/week	16.7	14.3–19.4	36.8	33.4–40.3^d	46.5	43.5–49.5^d
2–3 times/week	18.0	15.6–20.7	42.2	39.3–45.1	39.8	36.4–43.3^d
4–5 times/week	19.1	17.5–20.8	44.6	42.2–47.0^d	36.4	34.5–38.2^d
Physical Activity Score^b (N = 6,372)
1º tertile	22.5	20.1–25.0^d	33.5	30.8–36.3^d	44.0	40.7–47.4^d
2º tertile	18.6	17.1–20.3^d	39.0	36.8–41.1^d	42.4	40.2–44.6^d
3º tertile	13.6	11.7–15.8^d	50.1	46.9–53.3^d	36.3	33.4–39.2^d
Screen activity^c(N = 6,372)
1º tertile	22.0	20.5–23.6^d	41.4	39.5–43.4	36.5	34.6–38.6^d
2º tertile	18.6	16.5–20.9^d	38.7	36.2–41.2	42.7	40.7–44.8^d
3º tertile	11.7	10.1–13.5^d	42.2	39.3–45.2	46.1	43.1–49.0^d

CI Confidence Interval, WebCAAFE Food Intake and Physical Activities of Schoolchildren, MESA Meal and Snack Assessment Quality Scale, N total number of subjects
^aBody mass index (BMI) was computed as weight (kg) divided by height squared (m). Age- and sex-specific BMI z-scores were calculated according to the World Health Organization [28]
^bPhysical activity score (PAS): created by multiplying the metabolic equivalent of each physical activity by the daily frequency reported [20]. The subject's PAS was the sum of all activity scores The first tertile was defined as the lowest, the second tertile as the intermediary, and the third tertile as the highest
^cDaily frequency of sedentary behaviors based on screen activities (television, videogame, computer, tablet, cell phone). The first tertile was defined as the lowest, the second tertile as the intermediary, and the third tertile as the highest
^dStatistical significance with the help of the confidence interval (non-overlapping confidence interval)

Back to article page

ISSN: 1475-2891

Contact us

General enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com

Nutrition Journal

Contact us