Abstract P089: Predictors of a Southern Diet Pattern in the REGARDS Study

Abstract

Background: The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study identified a dietary pattern from factor analysis associated with multiple diseases. This Southern dietary pattern, includes fried food, organ meats, processed meats, and sugar-sweetened beverages and is associated with increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease stroke, sepsis, kidney disease, and cognitive impairment. Further, this dietary pattern mediates much of the black-white difference in incidence of both stroke and hypertension. Factors related to adherence to this dietary pattern have been less commonly studied. In this cross-sectional study, we examined predictors of the Southern diet in REGARDS, including 17212 black and white participants aged 45 and older. Studied predictors were race, sex, residence in the Southeast, education, income, neighborhood advantage, smoking status, living in an urban area, age, dietary factors, physical activity, medication adherence, general self-rated health, report of depressive symptoms, and living in a food desert. We used linear regression to obtain beta coefficients and modeled a one standard deviation difference in the Southern diet score. Of REGARDS participants with dietary data, 34% were black, 44% were male, 72% lived in an urban setting, and 37% had graduated from college. Among the possible predictors of adherence to a Southern diet pattern, black participants, males, residents of the Southeast, and current smokers were strongly adherent to the dietary pattern, even after adjustment for the other factors (table). Markers of socioeconomic status were strong predictors in unadjusted models but after adjustment for race, they were attenuated. Black race was the most potent predictor of a higher adherence to a Southern dietary pattern in REGARDS. As this diet is strongly associated with risk of several incident diseases, further work should focus on the contribution of this diet to broad racial disparities in chronic disease and life expectancy.