Gender Differences in the Association between Dietary Pattern and the Incidence of Hypertension in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

• Published in: Nutrients 2018-02, Vol.10 (2), p.252
• Main Authors: Song, SuJin, Kim, Jiwon, Kim, Jihye
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Antihypertensives; Blood pressure; Coffee; confidence interval; Confidence intervals; diastolic blood pressure; drug therapy; eating habits; elderly; Epidemiology; Factor analysis; food frequency questionnaires; Food groups; Gender differences; genome; Genomes; Grain; Health risk assessment; Hypertension; Koreans; Legumes; men; Older people; Risk; Sex differences; Statistical models; sweets; systolic blood pressure; whole grain foods; women
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu10020252

We examined gender differences in the association between dietary patterns and the risk of hypertension, using the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study data. A total of 5090 participants (2457 men and 2633 women) aged 40-69 years without hypertension at baseline were selected. Dietary patterns were obtained using factor analysis based on 26 food groups, evaluated by a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire at baseline. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg, or the use of antihypertensive medication using the biennial measurements. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the associations between dietary patterns and hypertension. Four dietary patterns were extracted: coffee, fat, and sweets; prudent; whole grains and legumes; and traditional (men)/Western (women). Women in the highest tertile of the whole grains and legumes pattern scores showed a lower risk of incident hypertension compared with those in the lowest tertile (hazard ratio = 0.77, 95% confidence interval = 0.59-1.00, -trend = 0.048). Other dietary patterns were not associated with hypertension in either men or women. A diet rich in whole grains and legumes is inversely associated with the risk of hypertension in Korean women, suggesting a gender difference in the association between diet and hypertension.