Awareness of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet, its Effect, Impact, Adherence and Use of trackers on Hypertension Management in Asian Adults: A Three- Cohort Observational Study

AbstractObjective: A healthy and balanced diet provides the body with all the essential vitamins, minerals, micro and macro nutrients for energy, growth and repair along with reducing the risk of many chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes and cancers. This study evaluates the role of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension in controlling and management of hypertension. Three different cohorts (hypertensive patients, physicians and dietitians treating hypertensive patients) were surveyed for this study in order to understand the effect and feasibility of DASH diet in controlling and managing hypertension. Methods: Three different cohorts of varied sample size were evaluated in the study. The sample size included 416 Patients diagnosed with hypertension, 48 Physicians treating hypertensive patients and 50 dietitians who gave dietetic consultation to hypertensive patients. Different questionnaires were circulated to each individual cohort and their responses was captured either in paper/digital format. Results: The awareness of DASH diet among the three cohorts was varied, only 58.41% of the patients were aware of the DASH diet in varying degrees (superficial or very well), when compared to 77% of the physicians and 98% of the dietitians indicating that awareness of the diet was lesser among the general patient population when compared to the dietitian and physicians. Patients who followed DASH diet saw reduction in both their systolic and diastolic readings. 54.17% patients found 3-7mmHg reduction in systolic BP and 79.17% patients found 1-3mmHg reduction in diastolic BP. The longer they adhered to DASH diet, higher was their likelihood of experiencing substantial BP reductions. Physicians too observed reduction in both systolic and diastolic BP readings in their patients who followed DASH diet. Within the five independent approaches of DASH diet, physicians saw reduction in BP reading for their patients who “reduced their salt intake”, “reduced saturated fatty foods and red meat”, or “increased intake of potassium rich food”. The Physicians however did not significantly see reduction in BP readings in their patients who “reduced sugar intake”, or “increased fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains”. Similar findings were seen by dietitians as well. They observed reduction in both systolic and diastolic BP reading in their patients who followed DASH diet.