Health, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with Brazilian dietary patterns: Brazilian National Health Survey

This study aimed to identify Brazilian dietary patterns and their associations with health, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics. Data from the Brazilian National Health Survey conducted in 2013 were used. A questionnaire was applied containing 22 items related to dietary consumption. Dietary patterns were determined through factor analysis (FA). Poisson regression models, with robust variance, were used to identify associations between dietary patterns and independents variables. Statistical significance was defined as p-value<0.05. Data were analysed for 60,202 adults (estimated population size: 146,308,458). FA identified three dietary patterns: healthy, protein, and western. The younger age group (18–24 years) had a lower adherence to the healthy pattern (PR:0.53; 95%CI:0.49–0.58) and greater adherence to the protein (PR:1.52; 95%CI:1.42–1.62) and western (PR:1.80; 95%CI:1.68–1.93) patterns compared to the elderly (≥60 years). Women had a greater association with the healthy pattern (PR:1.32; 95%CI:1.28–1.38) and lower association with the protein pattern (PR:0.80; 95%CI:0.77–0.82) compared to men. Illiterate participants showed lower adherence to the healthy (PR:0.58; 95%CI:0.53–0.63) and western (PR:0.54; 95%CI:0.48–0.62) patterns compared to those with higher educational levels. Smokers had lower adherence to the healthy (PR:0.76; 95%CI:0.71–0.81) and higher adherence to the protein (PR:1.14; 95%CI:1.11–1.19) patterns compared to non-smokers. Participants with poor/very poor self-rated health status had a lower adherence to the healthy (PR:0.79; 95%CI:0.73–0.86) and western (PR:0.81; 95%CI:0.73–0.89) patterns compared to those in a very good/good self-rated health status. Multimorbidity was positively associated with the healthy pattern (PR:1.18; 95%CI:1.11–1.26) and inversely associated with the protein pattern (PR:0.88; 95%CI:0.80–0.96) compared to participants without comorbidities. We suggest that strategies to promote healthy eating should consider health, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics in the Brazilian population.