Diet quality and blood pressure among adults with hypertension living in a high-altitude region of the Peruvian Andes
14 affiliations
- 1Program in Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
- 2Center for Global Non-Communicable Disease Research and Training, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
- 3Biomedical Research Unit, A.B. PRISMA, Lima, Peru.
- 4Program in Social and Behavioral Interventions, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
- 5Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
- 6Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, BostonMassachusetts, United States of America.
- 7Facultad de Salud Pública y Administración, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
- 8Centro Latino Americano de Excelencia en Cambio Climático y Salud, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
- 9Cardiovascular Division and Global Health Center, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
- 10Center for Biostatistics and Data Science, Institute for Informatics, Data Science and Biostatistics (I2BD), School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
- 11Hospital Base III, EsSalud, Puno, Peru.
- 12Infectious Diseases Division, Department of Medicine and Dissemination and Implementation Center, Institute for Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
- 13Global Health Futures Innovation Research Network, School of Public Health, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
- 14Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
Abstract
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.
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BibTeX
@article{tarazonameza2026diet,
title = {{Diet quality and blood pressure among adults with hypertension living in a high-altitude region of the Peruvian Andes}},
author = {Carla Tarazona-Meza and Mika Matsuzaki and Kendra N Williams and Laura E Caulfield and Sabri Bromage and Lucy Cordova-Ascona and Lindsay J Underhill and Lisa de Las Fuentes and Gonzalo M Cuentas-Canal and Zoila Vela-Clavo and Marilú Chiang and Elvin H Geng and Victor G Dávila-Román and Stella M Hartinger and William Checkley},
journal = {PLOS Global Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pgph.0007396},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0007396},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Diet quality and blood pressure among adults with hypertension living in a high-altitude region of the Peruvian Andes
AU - Carla Tarazona-Meza
AU - Mika Matsuzaki
AU - Kendra N Williams
AU - Laura E Caulfield
AU - Sabri Bromage
AU - Lucy Cordova-Ascona
AU - Lindsay J Underhill
AU - Lisa de Las Fuentes
AU - Gonzalo M Cuentas-Canal
AU - Zoila Vela-Clavo
AU - Marilú Chiang
AU - Elvin H Geng
AU - Victor G Dávila-Román
AU - Stella M Hartinger
AU - William Checkley
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - PLOS Global Public Health
DO - 10.1371/journal.pgph.0007396
UR - https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0007396
AB - 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.
SN - 2767-3375
ER -