Key result
Household consumption of salt equivalents and expenditure on processed foods were positively associated with mortality from ischaemic heart diseases and cerebral infarction.
Why the study?
Japan has seen a decrease in cardiovascular mortality with regional variation that does not match local reported average salt intake patterns.
Does household dietary salt consumption and expenditure on processed foods affect mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the Japanese population?
Observational
Does household dietary salt consumption and expenditure on processed foods affect mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the Japanese population?
Higher household consumption of discretional salt and expenditure on processed foods are associated with increased mortality from ischaemic heart disease in Japan.
Household discretionary salt intake was weakly associated with IHD and cerebral infarction mortality; leaves open dominant regional drivers of Japan's CV mortality decline.
BACKGROUND: Epidemiological evidence has shown that lower salt intake reduces hypertension-related disease mortality. Japan has experienced a drastic decrease in cardiovascular mortality, although this varies across regions. This regional variation does not necessarily match the local patterns of reported average salt intake. In this study, we examined population-level risk factors for hypertension-related disease mortality, focussing on the average household dietary consumption of salt intake sources. METHODS: We prepared an ecological panel dataset, with prefecture as the unit of analysis, by referring to public statistics and market research data from 2012 to 2015. We collected prefectural averages of household dietary consumption related to salt intake and other nutrients that may affect hypertension control. We used demographic characteristics, medical care availability and local economy indices as covariates. Panel data analysis with fixed-effects modelling was performed, regressing prefectural-level mortality from ischaemic heart diseases, subarachnoid and intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral infarction on dietary consumption and the selected covariates. RESULTS: We confirmed the average household consumption of salt equivalents of discretional salt intake sources to be positively but only weakly associated with mortality from ischaemic heart diseases and cerebral infarction. Household expenditure on processed foods was positively associated with ischaemic heart disease mortality. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may suggest that the reduction of salt in processed foods, in addition to individual behavioural change, could be useful for decreasing mortality from ischaemic heart diseases in the Japanese population. Ecological factors related to decreasing cerebrovascular disease mortality in the context of the ageing Japanese population require further investigation.
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Li et al. (2019) conducted an observational in Cardiovascular diseases. Household dietary salt consumption was evaluated on Prefectural-level mortality from ischaemic heart diseases, subarachnoid and intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral infarction. Household consumption of salt equivalents and expenditure on processed foods were positively associated with mortality from ischaemic heart diseases and cerebral infarction.
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