Correlation Between Dietary Applications in Hypertensive Patients and Eating Disorders

OpenAlex İngilizce

Objective: Many studies on prevention and treatment of hypertension show that some special nutrition and diets are effective on blood pressure. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the dietary applications in hypertension patients are correlated with eating disorders or not. Materialand Methods: The study was conduced in eight different centers among Family Health Centers in Sakarya. The test group consisted of 86 hypertensive patients and the control group consisted of 162 persons. Abnormal eating behaviours, inappropriate weight control methods and psychological status of the patients were assessed through three questionnaires: Eating Attitudes test-26 (EAT); Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). Results: The characteristics of the test group and the control group were similar with regard to age, sex and height. Body mass indeks (BMI) and weight of the test group was significantly higher than the control group. Test group had higher EAT score (21.82±12.53 vs 18.85±9.65, p=0.04), BITE score (9.68±2.95 vs 8.75±3.00, p=0.02) than the control group. GHQ-12 of the test group was significantly higher than the control group (11.86±7.10 vs 10.02±6.35, p=0.04). When we compare the two groups in terms of gender, BITE scores of females in the test group were significantly higher than the females in the control group (9.92±2.9 vs 8.86±3.071, p=0.03), whereas GHQ scores of males in the test group were significantly higher than males in the the control group (11.73±7.35 vs 8.47±5.71, p=0.03). There was positive correlation between BMI and BITE scores in test group (r= 0.242 p=0.025). Concluson: Eating disorders and psychiatric complications may develop among patients with hypertension. Hence, a diagnosis hypertension should lead to a heightened level of diagnostic suspicion for eating and psychiatric disorders.