Dietary Habits and Adherence to Dietary Approaches to Treat Hypertension in Adults with High Blood Pressure: CSS

Abstract

Context: Hypertension is a worldwide burden which causes severe complications. Dietary and lifestyle modifications are important for lowering high blood pressure. Aim: To identify the dietary intake and habits among hypertensive patients in order to treat hypertension in adults with high blood pressure. Subjects and Methods: Design: A cross-sectional study was used. Settings: This study was carried out in the Internal Medicine outpatient clinic in a University Hospital. It was a cross-sectional study. Methods and Materials: A pre-designed validated questionnaire was used to collect the necessary data. The study included 350 hypertensive patients who were subjected to nutritional assessment. Results: Most patients had positive family history of hypertension where half of them suffered it for less than 5 years. 92.6% of them were regularly treated, while 47.1% suffered from chronic diseases (mainly DM 35.1%). Unsuitable dietary intake compared to recommended daily intake was prevalent in most of the patients. Conclusions: Unhealthy dietary habits and poor adequacy of recommended daily intakes of different nutrients were found among the studied hypertensive patients.