Estimated 24-Hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion in adults in the Northwest Region of Morocco, 2017

Abstract

BackgroundExcessive sodium (Na) and insufficient potassium (K) intake contribute to a high risk of cardiovascular events. Morocco lacks data on actual Na and K intake in adults. We estimated mean Na and K intake in a Moroccan population of adults residing in the Northwest region using 24-h urinary excretion and examined their association with blood pressure (BP).MethodsA total of 371 adults from this region, who were recruited for the STEPs Survey Morocco 2017, completed demographic, anthropometric as well as BP data and provided a valid 24-h urine collection according to the standard World Health Organization (WHO) protocol. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used to examine the association between 24-h urinary sodium (24-hUNa) and 24-h potassium excretion (24-hUK) with BP.ResultsMean Na excretion was 2794 mg/day and mean K excretion was 1898 mg/day. Overall, only 114 (30.7%) adults met the WHO recommendation for Na intake (< 2000 mg/d) and 31 (8.4%) met the adequate level for K intake (⩾3510 mg/d). There was no association between 24-hUNa and 24-hUK with BP (P > 0.05 for all).ConclusionNa intake was higher and K intake was lower than WHO recommendations in the study population. There was no association between estimated Na and K intake levels with BP in this population.