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The following funding bodies contributed to study concept and design, research, and data collection for the PREDIMED-Plus study. The PREDIMED-Plus trial was supported by the European Research Council (Advanced Research grant 2014-2019; agreement #340918; granted to M.A.M-G.); the official Spanish institutions for funding scientific biomedical research, CIBER Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion (CIBEROBN) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through the Fondo de Investigacion para la Salud (FIS) which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (coordinated FIS projects led by J.S-S. and J.V., including the following projects: PI13/00673, PI13/00492, PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/02184, PI13/00728, PI13/01090, PI13/01056, PI14/01722, PI14/00636, PI14/00618, PI14/00696, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/00853, PI14/01374, PI14/00972, PI14/00728, PI14/01471, PI16/00473, PI16/00662, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00381, PI16/00366, PI16/01522, PI16/01120, PI17/00764, PI17/01183, PI17/00855, PI17/01347, PI17/00525, PI17/01827, PI17/00532, PI17/00215, PI17/01441, PI17/00508, PI17/01732, PI17/00926, PI19/00957, PI19/00386, PI19/00309, PI19/01032, PI19/00576, PI19/00017, PI19/01226, PI19/00781, PI19/01560, PI19/01332), and the Especial Action Project "Implementacion y evaluacion de una intervencion intensiva sobre la actividad fisica Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus" (J.S-S.); the Recercaixa (grant number 2013ACUP00194) (J.S-S.). Moreover, J.S-S. gratefully acknowledges the financial support by ICREA under the ICREA Academia program; the SEMERGEN grant; Department of Health of the Government of Navarra (61/2015), the Fundacio La Marato de TV (Ref. 201630.10); the AstraZeneca Young Investigators Award in Category of Obesity and T2D 2017 (D.R.); grants from the Consejeria de Salud de la Junta de Andalucia (PI0458/2013; PS0358/2016; PI0137/2018), the PROMETEO/2017/017 grant from the Generalitat Valenciana, the SEMERGEN grant; grant of support to research groups 35/2011 (Balearic Islands Government; FEDER funds) (J.A.T.). J.K. was financially supported by the Juan de la Cierva-Incorporacion research grant (IJC2019-042420-I) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the European Social Funds. The following funding bodies contributed to data preparation and analysis, bibliographic research, and manuscript writing. The METHYL-UP project was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RTI2018-095569-B-I00, Programa de Proyectos Orientados a los Retos de la Sociedad "Projects Toward Society Challenges Program"). R.S.-C. acknowledges financial support from the Juan de la Cierva Program Training Grants of the Spanish State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion y Ministerio de Universidades (FJC2018-038168-I). C.M.-P. was financially supported by a joint grant from the Community of Madrid and the European Social Fund (PEJD-2019-POST/SAL-15892). C. C.-M. was financially supported by the Formacion de Personal Investigador (FPI) grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (PRE2019-087643)., Background: Recent lifestyle changes include increased consumption of highly processed foods (HPF), which has been associated with an increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, nutritional information relies on the estimation of HPF consumption from food-frequency questionnaires (FFQ) that are not explicitly developed for this purpose. We aimed to develop a short screening questionnaire of HPF consumption (sQ-HPF) that integrates criteria from the existing food classification systems. Methods: Data from 4400 participants (48.1% female and 51.9% male, 64.9 ± 4.9 years) of the Spanish PREDIMED-Plus (“PREvention with MEDiterranean DIet”) trial were used for this analysis. Items from the FFQ were classified according to four main food processing-based classification systems (NOVA, IARC, IFIC and UNC). Participants were classified into tertiles of HPF consumption according to each system. Using binomial logistic regression, food groups associated with agreement in the highest tertile for at least two classification systems were chosen as items for the questionnaire. ROC analysis was used to determine cut-off points for the frequency of consumption of each item, from which a score was calculated. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s analysis, and agreement with the four classifications was assessed with weighted kappa coefficients. Results: Regression analysis identified 14 food groups (items) associated with high HPF consumption for at least two classification systems. EFA showed that items were representative contributors of a single underlying factor, the “HPF dietary pattern” (factor loadings around 0.2). We constructed a questionnaire asking about the frequency of consumption of those items. The threshold frequency of consumption was selected using ROC analysis. Comparison of the four classification systems and the sQ-HPF showed a fair to high agreement. Significant changes in lifestyle characteristics were detected across tertiles of the sQ-HPF score. Longitudinal changes in HPF consumption were also detected by the sQ-HPF, concordantly with existing classification systems. Conclusions: We developed a practical tool to measure HPF consumption, the sQ-HPF. This may be a valuable instrument to study its relationship with NCDs., European Research Council (ERC) European Commission 340918, CIBER Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through the Fondo de Investigacion para la Salud (FIS) - European Regional Development Fund PI13/00673 PI13/00492 PI13/00272 PI13/01123 PI13/00462 PI13/00233 PI13/02184 PI13/00728 PI13/01090 PI13/01056 PI14/01722 PI14/00636 PI14/00618 PI14/00696 PI14/01206 PI14/01919 PI14/00853 PI14/01374 PI14/00972 PI14/00728 PI14/01471, Especial Action Project "Implementacion y evaluacion de una intervencion intensiva sobre la actividad fisica Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus", La Caixa Foundation 2013ACUP00194, ICREA, SEMERGEN grant, Department of Health of the Government of Navarra 61/2015, Fundacio La Marato de TV 201630.10, AstraZeneca T2D 2017, Junta de Andalucia PI0458/2013 PS0358/2016 PI0137/2018, Generalitat Valenciana European Commission General Electric PROMETEO/2017/017, Balearic Islands Government 35/2011, European Commission 35/2011, Juan de la Cierva-Incorporacion research grant of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the European Social Funds IJC2019-042420-I, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Programa de Proyectos Orientados a los Retos de la Sociedad "Projects Toward Society Challenges Program") RTI2018-095569-B-I00, Juan de la Cierva Program Training Grants of the Spanish State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion y Ministerio de Universidades FJC2018-038168-I, Comunidad de Madrid, European Social Fund (ESF) PEJD-2019-POST/SAL-15892, Formacion de Personal Investigador (FPI) grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades PRE2019-087643, The Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through the Fondo de Investigacion para la Salud (FIS) - European Regional Development Fund PI16/00473 PI16/00662 PI16/01873 PI16/01094 PI16/00501 PI16/00533 PI16/00381 PI16/00366 PI16/01522 PI16/01120 PI17/00764 PI17/01183 PI17/00855 PI17/01347 PI17/00525 PI17/01827 PI17/00532 PI17/00215 PI17/01441 PI17/00508 PI19/00309 PI19/01560 PI19/01332, A Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through the Fondo de Investigacion para la Salud (FIS) - European Regional Development Fund PI17/01732 PI17/00926 PI19/00957 PI19/00386 PI19/01032 PI19/00576 PI19/00017 PI19/01226 PI19/00781