Abstract Sina Zarrintan

Comparison Of Nutritional Habits In Offspring Of Patients With Ischaemic Heart Diseases And Healthy Controls
¹S. Zarrintan, ¹M. Alizadeh, ¹S. Nasehzadeh, ¹B. Ghaderi
¹Student Research Center and Educational Development Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, (Iran)

Introduction
It is estimated that Ischaemic Heart Diseases (IHD) would cause the most disability adjusted life years (DALY) in 2020. Along with known risk factors, familial history can make a person more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases and because of that it is essential to reform lifestyles of genetically at risk people. For this reason, we wanted to compare the nutritional habits of offspring of ischaemic heart patients and healthy controls as a part of their lifestyles.

Material and Methods
We selected 500 over 18 years of age offspring of ischaemic heart patients and 500 over 18 years of age offspring of healthy controls to complete a questionnaire containing demographic variables and 12 items about nutritional habits. The reliability of the questionnaire was also confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha, which was more than 0.7. The healthiest nutritional habits were scored 60 while the least healthy ones were scored 12. Data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics and t-test.

Results
There was not any significant difference between demographic variables of case and control groups. The mean score of nutritional habits for case group was 40.1 and it was 43.9 for control group. The T-test showed that the difference between nutritional habits of case and control groups was statistically significant (p<0.001). The study demonstrated that the case group was consuming salt, oil, sugar and fatty foods more than the control group; meanwhile, the control group was used to take more vegetables, fruits, water and high fiber foods than the case group. Also, 68% of the control group claimed to have an organized diet containing essential vitamins and minerals while it was 37.9% for case group.

Conclusion
As it is seen, offspring of IHD patients continue their family’s unhealthy behavior despite the presence of a parent with IHD. Their parents, meanwhile, may have acquired the disease because of unhealthy nutritional habits. Because of this, it would be better to educate patients and also their families about risky nutritional habits and also other risk factors.

Keyword(s): nutrition, ischaemic heart disease, familial history