Diet quality and blood pressure among adults with hypertension living in a high-altitude region of the Peruvian Andes

Diet quality plays an important role in the management of non-communicable diseases, including hypertension. A better understanding of dietary profiles in high-altitude populations with hypertension could help improve the effectiveness of interventions. We aimed to characterize diet quality and its association with blood pressure among adults with hypertension living at high-altitude. Cross-sectional study of baseline data from an ongoing trial in Puno, Peru. We enrolled 154 adults with hypertension participating in a community health worker-led intervention aimed at improving hypertension management in a high-altitude region of Peru. Diet was assessed by 24-hour recalls which were analyzed to calculate the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS, range 0 - 49 with higher scores indicating better diet quality) and categorized into quartiles. We assessed blood pressure using a digital oscillometric tensiometer. We used multivariable linear regression to study the association between diet quality and blood pressure adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, food security status, hypertension awareness and treatment, BMI, HbA1c and lifestyle habits. We further stratified the analyses by hypertension awareness and treatment. Mean ± standard deviation (SD) age of participants was 66.5 ± 10.9 years and 51.9% were females. Overall mean GDQS was 15.7 ± 3.4 points. While no statistically significant association in the overall sample in multivariable models, we found an inverse association between GDQS quartiles and systolic blood pressure (adjusted mean difference of -4.13 mmHg, 95% CI: -7.72 to -0.53 p-trend = 0.03) among participants who were aware of having hypertension and receiving treatment (n = 102). We found that study participants had generally low diet quality based on GDQS. Among those aware of and receiving treatment for hypertension, higher GDQS scores were associated with lower systolic blood pressure.