What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Cross-Sectional. Population: Hypertension (n=5003). Intervention: Female sex vs. Male sex. Primary outcome: Prevalence of self-reported hypertension (p=<0.001).

August 13, 2006Open Access

Prevalence of self-reported hypertension and its relation to dietary habits, in adults; a nutrition & health survey in Greece

Q: What are the key findings of this study?

The prevalence of self-reported hypertension in Greek adults was significantly higher in women (17.7%) than in men (13.3%), and hypertensive individuals reported adopting healthier dietary habits.

Key Result

The prevalence of self-reported hypertension in Greek adults was significantly higher in women (17.7%) than in men (13.3%), and hypertensive individuals reported adopting healthier dietary habits.

Study Design

Type

Cross-Sectional (n=5,003)

Structured PICO

Population

5,003 adults aged 18-74 years in Greece participated in a nationwide random-digit dialed telephone survey assessing self-reported hypertension and dietary habits.

Outcome

Prevalence of self-reported hypertension and its relation to dietary habitspatient reported

Self-reported hypertension is highly prevalent in Greece, particularly among women, though diagnosed individuals appear to adopt healthier dietary habits than normotensive individuals.

Main Result

Absolute Event Rate: 17.7% vs 13.3%

p-value: p=<0.001

Limitations

Cross-sectional design cannot establish causal relations.
Self-reported hypertension status may underestimate true prevalence and is less accurate than clinical examination.
Self-reported BMI tends to be underestimated.
Semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires cannot be used for specific nutrient analysis.
Low participation rate of 30%.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Hypertension leads to many degenerative diseases, the most common being cardiovascular in origin. This study has been designed to estimate the prevalence of self-reported hypertension in a random nationwide sample of adult Greek population, while focus was set to the assessment of participants' nutritional habits in relation to their hypertension status. METHODS: A random-digit dialed telephone survey. Based on a multistage, stratified sampling, 5003 adults (18 - 74 yr) participated (men: 48.8%, women: 51.2%). All participants were interviewed via telephone by trained personnel who used a standard questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, medical history, lifestyle habits and nutritional assessment. RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported hypertension was 13.3% in men and 17.7% in women (P < 0.001). Furthermore, women reported higher values of systolic blood pressure (180 +/- 27 mmHg) than men (169 +/- 24 mmHg). Positive relationships were found between hypertension status and the prevalence of the rest investigated health conditions (i.e. hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes mellitus, renal failure and obesity). Nutritional assessment showed that consumption of fish, fruits and juices, cereals, and low fat milk and yogurt was significantly higher among hypertensive subjects while the opposite was observed for food items as red meat, pork, egg, pasta and rice, full fat dairy products and desserts. CONCLUSION: Hypertension seems to be a serious public health problem in Greece. It is encouraging that hypertensives may have started adopting some more healthy nutritional behaviour compared to normotensive ones. However, they can gain significant benefits regarding to blood pressure control, if they increase the level of compliance with dietary recommendations.

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