Investigation of DASH and analysis of the relationships between DASH scores and cardiovascular risk factors in elderly hypertensive patients in Chongqing

Abstract:

Objective：To assess the dietary approaches to stop hypertension（DASH） scores，and to analyze the relationship between DASH scores and cardiovascular risk factors in elderly hypertensive patients in Chongqing. Methods：Two districts were randomly selected from nine urban districts in Chongqing City. In each district，one community health service station was randomly selected as study site. All the hypertensive who visited those two health service stations during the time from April to June in 2016 were inves－tigated by questionnaire. The data of physical examination and laboratory test were collected. Results：Totally 435 patients completed this survey with median DASH scores of 5.0 points（the scores ranges from 2 to 8 points and the total scores was 10 points）. The max－imum scores’ proportion of the items in fruit，milk and nuts were 1.6%，1.6% and 2.5%，respectively，among the patients. ANOVA analysis showed that the level of systolic blood pressure（SBP），diastolic blood pressure（DBP），total cholesterol （TC），triglyceride（TG），and low density lipoprotein-cholester（LDL-C） were significantly different in patients with different subgroups of DASH scores（all P<0.05）. Spearman correlation analysis showed that DASH scores was negatively correlated with SBP，DBP，TC，TG，LDL-C，BMI，WC（r=-0.175，-0.323，-0.532，-0.521，-0.483，-0.169，-0.360，respectively，all P<0.001），whereas DASH scores and high density lipoprotein-cholester（HDL-C） were positively cor－related（r=0.108，P<0.05）. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the level of DBP，TC，TG，LDL-C，HDL-C，WC were closely related to DASH scores（all P<0.05）. Conclusion：Elderly hypertensive patients in Chongqing have poor DASH scores. The DASH scores are significantly correlated with the level of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Improving DASH scores can reduce the level of risk factors of cardiovascular disease. DASH interventions should be strengthened to change the dietary pattern of hypertensive pa－tients，and to reduce the cardiovascular risk.