Conference paper

NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE AND NUTRITIONAL HABITS AMONG HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS FROM EASTERN CROATIA

Ivan Miškulin orcid.org/0000-0001-7238-2341 ; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Antonija Pavlović orcid.org/0000-0002-7468-3946 ; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Matea Matić Ličanin ; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Robert Steiner orcid.org/0000-0003-2250-9855 ; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Nika Pavlović ; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Maja Miškulin orcid.org/0000-0001-7330-3019 ; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Osijek, Croatia

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization data, hypertension is the leading cause of worldwide mortality and is responsible for approximately 40% of deaths from cardiovascular disease, chronicle kidney disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Unbalanced nutrition is one of the most dominant life-style-related risk factors for hypertension and nutrition knowledge is one of the factors that affect the nutritional habits of individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate nutrition knowledge and nu-tritional habits among hypertensive patients from Eastern Croatia and to evaluate interconnection be-tween these variables. This cross-sectional study was conducted during May and June 2019, among 400 adult hypertensive patients from Požega-Slavonia County. Specially designed anonymous ques-tionnaire served as a research tool. The median age of all patients was 64,0 years with the interquartile range from 55,0 to 71,5 years. There were 45,8% males and 54.2% females. The study revealed that 46.0% of patients skip at least one meal daily, most frequently breakfast (65.2%). Study further showed that 51.7% of patients sometimes put extra salt in their meal while 6.5% of them did that of-ten, even without trying their meal. Those patients who skip meals more frequently consume meat products, red meat and white bread every day (P<0.001; P=0.001; P=0.001, respectively) and less fre-quently consume fruit and vegetables every day (P=0.048 and P<0.001, respectively). Considering nutrition knowledge, 76.8% of patients did not know the recommended daily intake of salt, 60.0% of them did not know that low fat milk contains same amount of calcium as whole milk, and 48.5% of them did not know that spinach is as good a source of iron as red meat. Patients with higher overall knowledge less frequently skip meals (P<0.001) and less frequently put extra salt in their meal (P=0.020). It can be concluded that nutrition knowledge strongly influences nutritional habits of hy-pertensive patients and following that, these patients should be additionally educated about nutrition.

Keywords

arterial hypertension; nutrition knowledge; nutritional habits; Croatia; prevention

Hrčak ID:

233012

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/233012

Publication date:

31.12.2019.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 2.212 *