Comparison of Measured 24-Hour Urinary Salt Excretion With Spot Urine and 24-Hour Dietary Recall Estimates Among Adolescents and Parents: Cross-Sectional Study

Background Hypertension, a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, is a significant public health challenge, with urban India reporting prevalence rates up to 40%. Excessive salt intake, averaging 8 to 11 g/day in India, far exceeds the World Health Organization–recommended limit of 5 g/day and is a key modifiable risk factor. While 24-hour urine collection is the gold standard for measuring 24-hour urinary excreted salt levels, its practicality in large-scale studies is limited, necessitating alternative methods such as spot urine sampling and dietary recall. Objective This study aimed to address current knowledge gaps by evaluating 24-hour urinary excretory salt levels across age groups and comparing the gold standard of 24-hour urinary salt excretion with estimates from spot urine samples and 24-hour dietary recalls among adolescents and their parents in Chandigarh, India. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 462 adolescents and 395 parents from public schools in Chandigarh, part of a cluster randomized controlled trial focused on reducing chronic disease risk factors. Twenty-four–hour urinary excreted salt levels were measured via 24-hour urine collection, spot urine samples were analyzed with the Kawasaki, Tanaka, and INTERSALT equations, and 2 nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls using a correction factor of 0.9. Bland-Altman plots were used to assess agreement between methods. Results The mean 24-hour urinary excreted salt levels measured via 24-hour urine samples were 6.95 g/day (SD 0.24; 95% CI 6.48‐7.42) for adolescents and 7.73 g/day (SD 0.3; 95% CI 7.18‐8.28) for parents. Spot urine estimates showed variability, with the INTERSALT equation with potassium yielding the closest results to 24-hour measurements for parents (mean 8.12, SD 0.4 g/d; 95% CI 7.36‐8.95) and adolescents (mean 7.97, SD 0.4 g/day; 95% CI 7.16‐8.77). Dietary recall underestimated 24-hour urinary excreted salt levels for both groups (mean 4.15, SD 0.08 g/day for adolescents and mean 3.62, SD 0.08 g/day for parents). Conclusions Spot urine sampling, particularly the INTERSALT with potassium equation, offers a feasible alternative to 24-hour urine collection for estimating population-level 24-hour urinary excreted salt levels among adolescents and adults in resource-limited settings. Dietary recall alone significantly underestimates intake and should be supplemented with objective measures. These findings support the use of tailored estimation methods based on age for improved hypertension management strategies in India.