Are food exposures obtained through commercial market panels representative of the general population? Implications for outbreak investigations



Inns, T ORCID: 0000-0002-1218-958X, Curtis, D, Crook, P, Vivancos, R, Gardiner, D, McCarthy, N and Mook, P
(2019) Are food exposures obtained through commercial market panels representative of the general population? Implications for outbreak investigations. EPIDEMIOLOGY AND INFECTION, 147. e99-.

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Abstract

Current methods of control recruitment for case-control studies can be slow (a particular issue for outbreak investigations), resource-intensive and subject to a range of biases. Commercial market panels are a potential source of rapidly recruited controls. Our study evaluated food exposure data from these panel controls, compared with an established reference dataset. Market panel data were collected from two companies using retrospective internet-based surveys; these were compared with reference data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). We used logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios to compare exposure to each of the 71 food items between the market panel and NDNS participants. We compared 2103 panel controls with 2696 reference participants. Adjusted for socio-demographic factors, exposure to 90% of foods was statistically different between both panels and the reference data. However, these differences were likely to be of limited practical importance for 89% of Panel A foods and 79% of Panel B foods. Market panel food exposures were comparable with reference data for common food exposures but more likely to be different for uncommon exposures. This approach should be considered for outbreak investigation, in conjunction with other considerations such as population at risk, timeliness of response and study resources.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Case-control studies, epidemiological study design, gastrointestinal infection, outbreaks
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 20 Mar 2019 10:01
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 00:56
DOI: 10.1017/S0950268819000219
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268819000219
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3034552