Introduction:

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is a neurodegenerative and inherited disorder. No study has been conducted to characterize nutritional intake in Cuban SCA2 patients.

Objective:

To test the reproducibility and reliability of the 24-hour dietary recall method for the assessment of nutritional intake in Cuban patients with SCA2, as well as to obtain a preliminary characterization of nutritional intake in these patients.

Material and Methods:

A cross-sectional test-retest study was conducted on 35 SCA2 patients. The 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire in the CERES+ system was used.

Results:

Highly significant correlations between the first and second measurements were obtained for energy and nutrients intake, and according to food groups. Intraclass correlation coefficients higher than 0.75 were obtained for energy and most of the nutrients and according to food groups. Significant differences were obtained between male and female patients in terms of proteins, carbohydrates, cobalamin, iron, sodium, and zinc intake. An increase in sodium intake and a decrease in folic acid and copper intake were obtained. SCA2 patients showed increased sodium intake, and decreased folic acid and copper intake relative to nutritional intake recommendations for the Cuban population.

Conclusions:

The 24-hour recall dietary questionnaire is reproducible and reliable for the assessment of nutritional intake in SCA2 patients. Preliminary characterization of nutritional intake in SCA2 patients was obtained.

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