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. 2021 Feb 24;24(10):2777–2787. doi: 10.1017/S1368980021000859

Table 2.

Characteristics of the inferred population by quintiles of diet quality scores*

HEI-2015 PDQS (Scoring approach 1)† PDQS (Scoring approach 2)‡
Q1 Q5 Q1 Q5 Q1 Q5
Median Q1, Q3 Median Q1, Q3 Median Q1, Q3 Median Q1, Q3 Median Q1, Q3 Median Q1, Q3
Crude sample (n)§ 1069 1128 656 1262 862 1038
Weighted sample (n)§ 18,244,113 18,332,935 11,183,184 21,529,920 14,568,313 18,592,292
Diet score§ 36 33, 40 65 62, 69 10 9, 11 21 20, 22 10 9, 11 21 20, 22
Age (year)§ 50 44, 59 54 47, 64 50 44, 57 55 48, 65 50 44, 59 55 48, 65
Male (%)§ 54 35 62 34 59 34
Race/ethnicity§
  White, non-Hispanic (%) 75 80 75 81 74 81
  Black, non-Hispanic (%) 11 8 13 8 13 7
  Hispanic (%) 8 9 8 7 8 7
Smoking§
  Smoker (%) 32 11 40 9 38 8
  Never smoker (%) 42 56 38 57 40 58
  Past smoker (%) 26 33 21 34 22 34
Alcohol (times/week)§ 2 0, 6 1 0, 3 2 0, 7 1 0, 3 2 0, 6 1 0, 3
Physical activity level§,‖
  Low (%) 38 28 39 27 40 28
  Medium (%) 47 50 47 46 45 44
  High (%) 15 22 14 27 14 28
BMI (kg/m2)§ 28 24, 33 27 24, 30 28 24, 33 27 24, 31 28 24, 33 27 24, 31
Total energy (kJ)§ 7933 6184, 10657 7883 6021, 10025 9255 7247, 11811 7899 6096, 9958 8627 6594, 11159 7899 6012, 9954
Carbohydrate (g)§ 218 164, 296 228 179, 298 258 197, 341 226 178, 295 242 184, 320 227 175, 292
Protein (g)§ 74 55, 100 76 58, 98 77 59, 100 80 63, 100 74 55, 96 81 63, 99
Total fat (g)§ 72 55, 101 70 50, 95 86 64, 117 69 47, 93 79 60, 110 67 47, 94
  SFA (g)§ 25 18, 36 21 15, 29 29 22, 40 21 14, 29 27 20, 38 20 14, 29
Fibre (g)§ 11 8, 15 19 14, 26 11 8, 15 20 15, 26 11 8, 15 20 15, 26
Total sugars (g)§ 85 52, 125 109 83, 147 121 86, 175 98 70, 133 114 80, 162 98 69, 135
Vitamin A§ 405 251, 462 724 450, 1030 379 249, 583 777 545, 1079 369 238, 580 768 544, 1102
Vitamin B1 § 1·5 1·1, 2 1·6 1·1, 2 1·4 1·1, 1·9 1·6 1·2, 2·1 1·4 1, 1·8 1·6 1·2, 2·1
Vitamin B2 § 1·9 1·5, 2·6 2·2 1·7, 3 2 1·4, 2·6 2·3 1·8, 3 1·9 1·4, 2·5 2·3 1·7, 3
Vitamin B6 § 1·4 1, 2 2 1·5, 2·7 1·5 1·1, 2·2 2·1 1·6, 2·8 1·5 1·1, 2 2·1 1·5, 2·7
Vitamin B12 § 3·8 2·7, 6·1 4·9 3·2, 7·4 4·5 2·9, 6·3 4·8 3·3, 7·4 4·1 2·6, 6·2 4·7 3·1, 7·2
Vitamin C§ 38 18, 79 93 55, 150 35 15, 80 102 65, 151 38 17, 86 108 65, 155
Folate (μg)§ 243 326, 466 294 403, 568 302 227, 420 445 324, 591 291 225, 401 445 325, 593
Ca (mg)§ 723 502, 961 857 592, 1142 692 499, 928 932 720, 1250 658 480, 930 944 702, 1281
Mg (mg)§ 229 176, 300 330 250, 427 229 172, 301 335 264, 430 221 172, 289 337 265, 433
K (mg)§ 2208 1700, 2825 3035 2307, 3723 2440 1798, 3987 3025 2448, 3720 2293 1754, 2972 3046 2470, 3727
Fe (mg)§ 13 10, 18 15 11, 20 13 10, 17 16 11, 21 13 9, 17 15 11, 22
Zn§ 10 7, 14 11 8, 15 11 8, 15 11 8, 14 11 8, 15 11 8, 14
Na (g)§ 3·4 2·6, 4·5 2·6 2, 3·5 3·4 2·6, 4·5 2·9 2·2, 3·9 3·1 2·5, 4·3 2·9 2·1, 3·9
*

Higher scores indicate greater dietary quality. HEI-2015: Healthy Eating Index-2015; PDQS, Prime Diet Quality Score. Q, quintile. N 5525.

†

Healthy’ components: ‘0’ = no foods from component eaten during both days, ‘1’ = foods consumed on one day, ‘2’ = foods consumed on both days. ‘Unhealthy’ components were reversely coded. Minimum quantities used as cut-offs.

‡

Daily gram ranges identified using data from several countries, assigning 0, 1 or 2 points for each component (negative components reversely scored) based on the amount consumed during each day.

§

Data are presented as weighted medians (Q1, Q3) for continuous variables and weighted percentages for categorical variables to account for survey design.

‖

Classified into tertiles of a total PA score (a sum of positive points for moderate and intense activities and negative points for sedentary activities).

Statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) comparing Q1 and Q5, using χ2 (for categorical variables) and Mann Whitney U (for continuous variables) tests.