Development and Scoring of a Diet Quality Screener for Hispanic/Latino Adults Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data: The SABE Lo Que Come? Tool

Summary

This study describes development of the SABE screener, a culturally and linguistically adapted 12-item diet quality assessment tool for Hispanic/Latino adults, derived from the Penn Healthy Diet screener using NHANES 2017–2018 data (n=1,126). A simple scoring algorithm (0–60 points) demonstrated strong validity against the HEI-2020 (ρ≥0.73–0.74) and reproducibility in an independent NHANES 2015–2016 validation sample (n=1,633), offering clinicians and researchers a brief, feasible tool tailored to this population's dietary patterns and cultural context.

Regional applicability

This tool was developed specifically for the United States Hispanic/Latino population using NHANES data and may have limited direct applicability to United Kingdom populations, which have different dietary patterns, cultural contexts, and public health priorities. However, the methodological approach of culturally adapting and validating a screener for specific population subgroups could be transferable to UK settings (e.g., development of screeners for South Asian or other minority ethnic groups with disproportionate chronic disease burden).

Key measures

SABE screener item correlations with HEI-2020 components (Spearman rank correlation ≥0.3 threshold for retention); simple algorithm score (0–60 points); regression-weighted algorithm score; correlation with HEI-2020 total score; correlation with AHEI-2010 total score

Outcomes reported

Development and validation of the SABE (Screener of Alimentary Behaviors and Eating) dietary assessment tool for Hispanic/Latino adults, with scoring algorithms tested against Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2020) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) benchmarks. The simple 12-item algorithm achieved strong correlation with HEI-2020 (ρ ≥ 0.73–0.74) and moderate correlation with AHEI-2010 (ρ ≥ 0.64–0.67).

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