A Comparison of Diet Quality of Patients With Heart Failure and Their Family Caregivers.
Misook L Chung, Suk Jeong Lee, Debra K Moser and 2 others
PMID 31904687WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with heart failure and their family caregivers had similar, low-quality diets and high sodium intake.
This suggests nurses should address both people together, not only the patient.
Key findings
01Patients and their family caregivers had similar overall diet quality scores (58.8 vs 59.4).
02Only one patient and no caregiver had a high diet quality score, while 21% of participants had low scores (11 patients and 6 caregivers).
03There was no significant difference in any diet component, including sodium (4.1 vs 3.4).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 40 patient-caregiver pairs were studied, and all came from one rural region, so the result may not apply to other families. Most participants were married and non-Hispanic white, and most caregivers were spouses, so different family types were not well represented. Diet was measured by self-report food frequency questionnaires, which can be affected by memory and reporting errors.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflict of interest. The article lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that heart failure causes a poorer diet than family caregiving, or that caregivers already eat healthily. The study found similar diet quality between patients and caregivers, and almost none reached the healthy range.