Table 2.

Characteristics of studies using a posteriori diet quality patterns

Author year	Country*	N	Ethnicity†	% Female	Age (years)‡		BMI (kg/m2)‡		DQP, N food items N patterns§	Diet assessment||	VAT¶
					Mean or median	Sd or IQR	Mean or median	Sd or IQR
De Paula Mancilha 2022(58)	BR	231	H	46 %	13	1	F: 20·9 M: 21·2	0·37 0·4	PCA, 12 food items 2 patterns	FFQ (12 items)	DXA
Di Giuseppe 2019(59)	DE	553	W	45 %	61	60–62	27·5	27·1–27·8	RRR, 39 food groups One score	sQFFQ (112 items)	MRI
Fischer 2015(60)	DE	583	W	41 %	61	12	27·2	4·4	PCA and PLS, 87 energy-adjusted nutrient-groups 11 patterns	FFQ (112 items)	MRI
Ito 2019(61)	JP	829	A	36 %	52	8	M: 23·5 F: 21·4	2·9 3·1	PCA, energy-adjusted 52 food and beverage items 2 patterns	BDHQ (46 items)	MRI
Liu 2013(26)	USA	1775	AA	61 %	47	10	30·8	0·3	PCA, 31 food groups 3 patterns	FFQ (158 items)	CT
Makura-Kankwende 2020(62)	ZA	498	AA	100 %	49	45–53	33·7	28·1–39·0	PCA, energy-adjusted 25 nutrients 3 patterns	QFFQ (214 items)	DXA
Makura-Kankwende 2022(63)	ZA	132	AA	100 %	53	50–58	33·7	28·1–39·2	PCA, energy-adjusted 25 nutrients 3 patterns	QFFQ	DXA
Ratshikombo 2021(64)	ZA	760	AA	46 %	54	6	M: 25·5 F: 33·2	5·9 6·5	PCA, 25 nutrients 4 patterns	QFFQ	DXA
Yin 2020(65)	CN	1432	A	60 %	57	7	M: 24·1 F: 23	2·9 3	PCA, energy-adjusted 21 food groups 4 patterns	FFQ (81 items)	MRI

^* ISO 3166–1 alpha-2 codes.

^†A, Asian; AA, African (American); H, Hispanic; O, Other; W, white.

^‡Mean ± s d or median (IQR).

^§PCA, principal component analysis; PLS, partial least squares regression; RRR, reduced-rank regression.

^||BDHQ, brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire; (s)QFFQ, (semi-)quantitative FFQ.

^¶CT, computed tomography; DXA, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; VAT, visceral adipose tissue.