Impact of a hospital-based educational intervention on dietary salt-related knowledge and behaviour in a cardiac care unit population in Lebanon.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Numerous strategies have been effective in reducing cardiovascular disease risk, from pharmacological approaches to lifestyle modification interventions. One of these strategies includes the reduction in dietary sodium which in turn reduces cardiovascular risk by reducing high blood pressure, perhaps the most important cardiovascular risk factor.

Methods: We evaluated an educational dietary salt reduction intervention in a cardiac care unit population in Lebanon, assessing salt related knowledge and behaviours before and after administering an evidence-based educational leaflet to patients.

Results: Salt-related knowledge improved significantly immediately post-intervention and subsequently fell on 4-week follow-up, but remained above baseline. Three of the four salt-related behaviours measured improved on 4-week follow-up: trying to buy low-salt foods increased from 54% to 74% (P=0.007), adding salt at the table reduced from 44% to 34% (P=0.03) and trying to buy food with no added salt increased from 24% to 52% (P=0.02) of the cohort. Adding salt during cooking did not differ significantly. A trend towards improved behavioural risk category in the cohort overall was observed on follow-up (P=0.07), 32% of participants were categorised as high behavioural risk pre-intervention, reducing to 17% on follow-up. Multi-ordered regression modelling identified being in the high-risk behavioural category at baseline as a predictor of being in the high-risk or moderate-risk category on follow-up.

Conclusions: This hospital-based educational intervention had a modestly positive impact on salt-related knowledge and behaviour, with participants in the highest behavioural risk category at baseline being most resistant to behavioural improvement.