Key result
Patients with heart failure and their family caregivers had similarly poor diet quality scores (total HEI 58.5 vs 59.4, P = .58), with both groups consuming diets high in sodium.
Why the study?
Patients with heart failure and their family caregivers typically consume similar diets, but evidence regarding their diet quality was lacking.
Cross-Sectional (n=80)
Absolute Event Rate: 58.5% vs 59.4%
p-value: p=.58
Patients with heart failure and their family caregivers share similarly poor diet quality, particularly regarding high sodium intake, suggesting dietary interventions should target the family unit.
Suboptimal diet quality in HF dyads warrants caution against patient-only counseling; leaves open whether family-based interventions improve outcomes.
BACKGROUND: Patients with heart failure (HF) and their family caregivers usually consume similar diets, but there is a lack of evidence about diet quality of patients with HF and their family caregivers. OBJECTIVE: The specific aim of this study was to compare diet quality of patients with HF with that of their family caregivers. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 40 patients with HF and their 40 family caregivers completed a VioScreen Food Frequency Questionnaire from which Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI) diet quality scores (consisting of the total HEI score and 12 component scores) were calculated. RESULTS: None of the 40 patient-caregiver dyads had a high diet quality score (ie, total HEI > 80), whereas 21% of participants had poor diet scores (ie, total HEI ≤ 50). There were no differences in total HEI scores (58.5 vs 59.4, P = .58) or the 12 component scores of the HEI within dyad members. Mean scores of 6 of the 12 components (ie, total fruit, greens and beans, total protein foods, seafood and plant proteins, fatty acids, empty calories) for both members of the HF dyad were lower than the national average. Interestingly, scores for the sodium component were similarly low in patients and caregivers (4.1 vs 3.4, P = .24), indicating high sodium intake. CONCLUSION: Both patients and caregivers consume poor-quality diets that are high in sodium. These findings suggest that nutrition interventions to improve diet quality for patients with HF need to be targeted at the family as a unit.
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Chung et al. (2020) conducted a cross-sectional in Heart failure (n=80). Heart failure vs. Family caregivers was evaluated on Total Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI) score (p=.58). Patients with heart failure and their family caregivers had similarly poor diet quality scores (total HEI 58.5 vs 59.4, P = .58), with both groups consuming diets high in sodium.
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