Empirical dietary patterns in the Russian population and the risk factors of chronic non-infectious diseases (Research ECVD-RF)

Abstract

Currently, in the epidemiology of nutrition, methodological approaches to the empirical assessment of the diets of the population and their relationship to health indicators are actively using. In Russia, these approaches have been used in a number of cohort and regional studies, however, such studies are not available for the entire Russian population. Aim. Identification of empirical dietary patterns in the Russian population and analysis of their associations with risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases. Material and methods. The work was carried out as part of a multicenter epidemiological study "Epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases in the regions of the Russian Federation" (ECVD-RF) in 2013-2014. The final sample size was 19 520 people aged 25- 64 years. Arterial hypertension, general and abdominal obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL, high LDL, and hyperglycemia were observed as risk factors for chronic non-infectious diseases. The data on the frequency of consumption of 13 food groups, which were grouped into 10 groups by combining dairy products into one were collected by interviewing. The identification of dietary patterns and assessment of their sustainability was performed using factor analysis (principal component analysis). In accordance with the individual commitment of the participants to the selected dietary patterns the sample was grouped into quartiles for each of the patterns. In order to ensure associations between patterns commitment and risk factors, a logistic regression analysis was used adjusted for the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. Results and discussion. Four stable dietary patterns with a total specific gravity of the explained variance of 55.9% were identified and conventionally designated as "Reasonable" (milk, sweets and confectionery, fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals and pasta), "Salt" (sausages, pickles and pickled products), "Meat" (meat, fish and seafood, poultry meat) and "Mixed" (beans, pickles and pickled products, fish and seafood). The set of products of the "Reasonable" patterns mainly corresponds to the "Healthy" or "Balanced" patterns in foreign studies, the combination of the "Salt" and "Meat" patterns - the "Western Salt". Adherence to a "Reasonable" pattern was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases, and to a "Salt" and "Meat" patterns, on the contrary, with an increase. The associations obtained generally correspond to the results of similar foreign studies. A "Mixed" dietary pattern was associated with a few risk factors, which did not allow an unambiguous assessment of the pattern in terms of its impact on health. Conclusion. The study identified empirical dietary patterns of the Russian population and characterized them in terms of associations with the state of health of risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases.