The Effect of Dash Diet on the Blood Pressure of the Male Hypertensive Office Employees between 33-55 Years of Age

Abstract

Aims: To determine the effect of the DASH Diet on the Blood Pressure of the male hypertensive office employees between 33-55 years of age. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Abhitex International Company, Panipat, Haryana, India between November 2018 to January 2019. Methodology: The Clinical blood pressure of the office employees of Abhitex International company, Panipat, between the age group of 35 to 55 years was recorded, following the international guidelines given by American Heart Association(AHA) and American College of Cardiology. Purposive sampling was done and the employees who had clinical blood pressure above 120/80 mm Hg were considered as the samples for the study. The dietary pattern of the samples was evaluated by checking the adherence to the DASH diet which was done through a questionnaire and 3 days 24-hour diet recall. Dietary adherence was assessed using a scoring scheme adopted by Folsom and colleagues. Samples were made aware of the DASH Diet and post one month the adherence to DASH Diet was again checked and the change in the clinical blood pressure was observed. Results: There were 50 study participants. The mean age of the participants was 41.5 years. The average Systolic blood pressure of the 50 participants in the pre-test was 149.3 mm of Hg and average diastolic blood pressure was 89.58 mm of Hg. Pre Nutrition Education Program, the total mean DASH adherence score was 4.3 out of 10 but post NEP and after following DASH Diet, the adherence score for the DASH Diet improved and resulted in 6.7 which indicated that the samples adhered more to the DASH Diet post NEP. There were reductions in systolic (149.30±18.98 mmHg to 146.12±14.85 mmHg) and diastolic (89.58±8.76 mmHg to 86.28±4.76 mmHg) blood pressures when the subjects adhered towards the DASH Diet. A significant difference at p=0.05(p=0.039*) in the pre and post-systolic blood pressure was observed in the study. A similar trend was also noticed in the pre and post-diastolic blood pressure which showed a highly significant difference at p=0.05(p=0.002**). Conclusion: It was concluded from the study that the improvement in the DASH Diet adherence score was associated with a reduction in the Clinical blood pressure. There was a reduction in systolic (149.30±18.98 mmHg to 146.12±14.85 mmHg) and diastolic (89.58±8.76 mmHg to 86.28±4.76 mmHg) blood pressures with an improvement of DASH Adherence Score (4.3±1.27 to 6.7±1.19).