Adherence to dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet in relation to psychological function in recovered COVID-19 patients: a case–control study

BACKGROUND: Follow-up of patients after recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and identifying the adverse effects of the disease in other organs is necessary. Psychiatric symptoms can persist after patients recover from the infection. AIM: We aimed to examine the adherence to the dietary approach to stop hypertension (DASH) diet in relation to psychological function in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19. METHOD: This case–control study was conducted on 246 eligible adults (123 cases and 123 controls). A valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to determine dietary intake. Depression, anxiety and stress, insomnia, sleep quality, and quality of life of participants were evaluated using DASS, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and SF-36 questionnaires, respectively. RESULTS: There was a significant inverse correlation between total depression score with vegetables, depression, anxiety, and stress score and dietary intake of nuts, legumes, and whole grains (p < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between stress scores and the intake of red and processed meat (P < 0.05). In multivariate-adjusted regression model, a significant association was found between adherence to DASH diet and depression and stress only in case group (OR = 0.7863, 95% CI 0.746–0.997, p = 0.046 and OR = 0.876, 95% CI 0.771–0.995, p = 0.042, respectively). CONCLUSION: Adherence to a DASH diet might be associated with depression and stress reduction in recovered COVID-19 patients.