Impact of the diagnosis of diabetes and/or hypertension on healthy food consumption indicators: a longitudinal study of elderly persons

Abstract Objective: to evaluate if the prevalence of healthy food consumption indicators among elderly persons with the self-reported diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and/or systemic arterial hypertension (DM and/or SAH) improved after diagnosis of these diseases, and to compare if the prevalence of such indicators was more frequent among elderly persons with DM and/or SAH than in elderly persons without these diseases. Method: a longitudinal study of 1,197 elderly persons aged 60-104 years, living in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, was performed, considering as an outcome the self-reported diagnosis of diabetes and/or hypertension. Healthy consumption indicators (exposures) were considered the maintenance and/or acquisition of the intake of fruit and vegetables ≥3 and ≥2 times/day, respectively, the consumption of fatty meat <2 times/week, and fried foods <2 times/week. Data was analyzed in terms of absolute and relative frequencies, and Poisson Regression was used to obtain the crude and adjusted prevalence of food consumption indicators. Values of p≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: when comparing the prevalences of the indicators of healthy food consumption among elderly persons with DM and/or SAH with those without these diseases, it was observed that only the consumption of fried foods changed positively between the periods 2009-2010 and 2013-2014. This result was statistically significant only for women, with maintaining/acquiring the infrequent consumption of fried foods (<2 times/week) 8.2% higher among elderly women with DM and/or SAH, p=0.043. Conclusion: The prevalence of healthy food consumption indicators was low and there was almost no difference between older adults with and without DM and/or SAH.