PubMed:
Provider: NLM
Database: PubMed (National Library of Medicine), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Date(s) Searched: October 28, 2026
Date range searched: 2015 to 2027
Language: English
Publication types excluded: Comment, Editorial, Letter, Case Reports, Preprint
Final count: 35,388 (line 13)
Search Terms:

No. | Query | Results
1 | "Child"[Mesh] OR "Adolescent"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Infant"[Mesh] OR "Pediatrics"[Mesh:NoExp] | 4,357,217
2 | child*[tiab] OR adolescen*[tiab] OR pediatric*[tiab] OR paediatric*[tiab] OR youth*[tiab] OR teen*[tiab] OR infant*[tiab] OR toddler*[tiab] OR preschool*[tiab] OR schoolchild*[tiab] OR "school children"[tiab] OR "school-aged"[tiab] OR kids[tiab] OR boys[tiab] OR girls[tiab] | 2,913,958
3 | 1 OR 2 | 5,170,595
4 | "Diet"[Mesh] OR "Diet Surveys"[Mesh] OR "Diet Records"[Mesh] OR "Nutrition Surveys"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Nutrition Assessment"[Mesh] OR "Nutritional Status"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Energy Intake"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Feeding Behavior"[Mesh] OR "Exercise"[Mesh] OR "Motor Activity"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Sedentary Behavior"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Screen Time"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Accelerometry"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Fitness Trackers"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Overweight"[Mesh] OR "Thinness"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Malnutrition"[Mesh] OR "Child Nutrition Disorders"[Mesh] OR "Anthropometry"[Mesh] OR "Body Composition"[Mesh] OR "Adiposity"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Growth Charts"[Mesh:NoExp] | 1,726,512
5 | diet*[tiab] OR nutrition*[tiab] OR "food intake"[tiab] OR "food consumption"[tiab] OR "food frequency"[tiab] OR "food record*"[tiab] OR "24-hour recall"[tiab] OR "24-h recall"[tiab] OR "eating behavior*"[tiab] OR "eating habit*"[tiab] OR "feeding practice*"[tiab] OR "food environment*"[tiab] OR "healthy eating index"[tiab] OR "physical activit*"[tiab] OR "physically active"[tiab] OR exercis*[tiab] OR sedentary[tiab] OR "screen time"[tiab] OR "moderate to vigorous"[tiab] OR MVPA[tiab] OR acceleromet*[tiab] OR pedometer*[tiab] OR "step count*"[tiab] OR obes*[tiab] OR overweight[tiab] OR adiposity[tiab] OR "body mass index"[tiab] OR BMI[tiab] OR anthropometr*[tiab] OR "waist circumference"[tiab] OR "waist-to-height ratio"[tiab] OR skinfold*[tiab] OR "body fat"[tiab] OR "bioelectrical impedance"[tiab] OR malnutrition[tiab] OR undernutrition[tiab] OR undernourish*[tiab] OR stunting[tiab] OR stunted[tiab] OR wasting[tiab] OR underweight[tiab] OR "mid-upper arm circumference"[tiab] OR MUAC[tiab] OR "weight-for-height"[tiab] OR "height-for-age"[tiab] OR "growth reference*"[tiab] OR "growth chart*"[tiab] | 2,390,569
6 | 4 OR 5 | 3,135,605
7 | "Reproducibility of Results"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Psychometrics"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Feasibility Studies"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Sensitivity and Specificity"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "ROC Curve"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Observer Variation"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Data Accuracy"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Factor Analysis, Statistical"[Mesh:NoExp] | 1,037,927
8 | valid*[tiab] OR reliab*[tiab] OR reproducib*[tiab] OR repeatab*[tiab] OR feasib*[tiab] OR psychometric*[tiab] OR "test-retest"[tiab] OR "inter-rater"[tiab] OR interrater[tiab] OR "intra-rater"[tiab] OR intrarater[tiab] OR "intraclass correlation"[tiab] OR "Bland-Altman"[tiab] OR "measurement error"[tiab] OR "measurement propert*"[tiab] OR "internal consistency"[tiab] OR Cronbach[tiab] OR "diagnostic accuracy"[tiab] OR "receiver operating characteristic"[tiab] OR "doubly labeled water"[tiab] OR "doubly labelled water"[tiab] OR usability[tiab] | 2,981,399
9 | 7 OR 8 | 3,461,683
10 | 3 AND 6 AND 9 | 64,109
11 | "Comment"[Publication Type] OR "Editorial"[Publication Type] OR "Letter"[Publication Type] OR "Case Reports"[Publication Type] OR "Preprint"[Publication Type] | 4,884,955
12 | 10 NOT 11 | 62,870
13 | 12 AND english[la] AND 2015:2027[dp] | 35,388
14 | "Surveys and Questionnaires"[Mesh] OR "Self Report"[Mesh:NoExp] | 1,414,966
15 | questionnaire*[tiab] OR instrument*[tiab] OR "screening tool*"[tiab] | 1,266,412
16 | 14 OR 15 | 2,239,890

Final query as run through NCBI E-utilities (line 13):
(((("Child"[Mesh] OR "Adolescent"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Infant"[Mesh] OR "Pediatrics"[Mesh:NoExp]) OR (child*[tiab] OR adolescen*[tiab] OR pediatric*[tiab] OR paediatric*[tiab] OR youth*[tiab] OR teen*[tiab] OR infant*[tiab] OR toddler*[tiab] OR preschool*[tiab] OR schoolchild*[tiab] OR "school children"[tiab] OR "school-aged"[tiab] OR kids[tiab] OR boys[tiab] OR girls[tiab])) AND (("Diet"[Mesh] OR "Diet Surveys"[Mesh] OR "Diet Records"[Mesh] OR "Nutrition Surveys"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Nutrition Assessment"[Mesh] OR "Nutritional Status"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Energy Intake"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Feeding Behavior"[Mesh] OR "Exercise"[Mesh] OR "Motor Activity"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Sedentary Behavior"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Screen Time"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Accelerometry"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Fitness Trackers"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Overweight"[Mesh] OR "Thinness"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Malnutrition"[Mesh] OR "Child Nutrition Disorders"[Mesh] OR "Anthropometry"[Mesh] OR "Body Composition"[Mesh] OR "Adiposity"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Growth Charts"[Mesh:NoExp]) OR (diet*[tiab] OR nutrition*[tiab] OR "food intake"[tiab] OR "food consumption"[tiab] OR "food frequency"[tiab] OR "food record*"[tiab] OR "24-hour recall"[tiab] OR "24-h recall"[tiab] OR "eating behavior*"[tiab] OR "eating habit*"[tiab] OR "feeding practice*"[tiab] OR "food environment*"[tiab] OR "healthy eating index"[tiab] OR "physical activit*"[tiab] OR "physically active"[tiab] OR exercis*[tiab] OR sedentary[tiab] OR "screen time"[tiab] OR "moderate to vigorous"[tiab] OR MVPA[tiab] OR acceleromet*[tiab] OR pedometer*[tiab] OR "step count*"[tiab] OR obes*[tiab] OR overweight[tiab] OR adiposity[tiab] OR "body mass index"[tiab] OR BMI[tiab] OR anthropometr*[tiab] OR "waist circumference"[tiab] OR "waist-to-height ratio"[tiab] OR skinfold*[tiab] OR "body fat"[tiab] OR "bioelectrical impedance"[tiab] OR malnutrition[tiab] OR undernutrition[tiab] OR undernourish*[tiab] OR stunting[tiab] OR stunted[tiab] OR wasting[tiab] OR underweight[tiab] OR "mid-upper arm circumference"[tiab] OR MUAC[tiab] OR "weight-for-height"[tiab] OR "height-for-age"[tiab] OR "growth reference*"[tiab] OR "growth chart*"[tiab])) AND (("Reproducibility of Results"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Psychometrics"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Feasibility Studies"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Sensitivity and Specificity"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "ROC Curve"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Observer Variation"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Data Accuracy"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Factor Analysis, Statistical"[Mesh:NoExp]) OR (valid*[tiab] OR reliab*[tiab] OR reproducib*[tiab] OR repeatab*[tiab] OR feasib*[tiab] OR psychometric*[tiab] OR "test-retest"[tiab] OR "inter-rater"[tiab] OR interrater[tiab] OR "intra-rater"[tiab] OR intrarater[tiab] OR "intraclass correlation"[tiab] OR "Bland-Altman"[tiab] OR "measurement error"[tiab] OR "measurement propert*"[tiab] OR "internal consistency"[tiab] OR Cronbach[tiab] OR "diagnostic accuracy"[tiab] OR "receiver operating characteristic"[tiab] OR "doubly labeled water"[tiab] OR "doubly labelled water"[tiab] OR usability[tiab]))) NOT ("Comment"[Publication Type] OR "Editorial"[Publication Type] OR "Letter"[Publication Type] OR "Case Reports"[Publication Type] OR "Preprint"[Publication Type])) AND english[la] AND 2015:2027[dp]

AI-use statement:
The PubMed search strategy was drafted with the PICO search builder. It used the large language model claude-opus-5-5 (Anthropic; accessed October 28, 2026) to propose search concepts and terms from the review question. The tool made 1 call to the model at high effort (the draft); claude-opus-5-5 was requested and answered it. A refusal fallback was enabled (had the model declined a request, the API could have run it again on another model Anthropic recommends); it was not used. Every MeSH heading, Supplementary Concept and publication type the strategy searches was checked against NLM MeSH (id.nlm.nih.gov) before use: 41 valid. Each numbered line was run in PubMed through NCBI E-utilities on October 28, 2026, and PubMed's own diagnostics (phrases not found, ignored words, lost truncation) were checked. A searcher must review the strategy before it is used. The prompts, the model output and every version are in the provenance file (JSON export).

Review question: In children and adolescents under 18 years, what measures of nutrition (dietary intake, diet quality, the home food environment), physical activity, and obesity or malnutrition (such as BMI and other anthropometric indices) have been developed or tested for validity, reliability or feasibility, and how do these measures compare with one another? Include studies from any setting, so that measures that could be used in primary care are not missed.
Run 2ed1a752-643c-44aa-8a89-72e12f28fe8f, exported October 29, 2026 from the PICO search builder.