TY - JOUR
T1 - Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Cyprus and its relationship to multi-morbidity
T2 - An epidemiological study
AU - Kyprianidou, Maria
AU - Panagiotakos, Demosthenes
AU - Faka, Antigoni
AU - Kambanaros, Maria
AU - Makris, Konstantinos C.
AU - Christophi, Costas A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society.
PY - 2021/10/27
Y1 - 2021/10/27
N2 - Objective: To examine the adherence to the Mediterranean diet in the adult general population of Cyprus and assess its relationship with multi-morbidity. Design: A representative sample of the adult population of Cyprus was selected in 2018-2019 using stratified sampling. Demographics, Mediterranean diet, smoking and physical activity, as well as the presence of chronic, clinical and mental conditions, were collected using a validated questionnaire. Diseases were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. Setting: The five government-controlled municipalities of the Republic of Cyprus. Participants: A total of 1140 Cypriot men and women over 18 years. Results: The average Mediterranean diet score was 15·5 ± 4·0 with males and residents of rural regions being more adherent to the Mediterranean diet compared with females and residents of urban regions (P < 0·05). Being in the higher tertile of adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with lower odds of multi-morbidity compared with the lower tertile, and this result was statistically significant even after adjusting for age, gender, smoking habits and physical activity (OR = 0·68, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·99). Conclusions: The study provides evidence of the adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Cypriot population and its association with multi-morbidity. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with lower risk of multi-morbidity. Future research would attempt to replicate such results that could add solid pieces of evidence towards meeting some criteria of causality and severity tests; hence, prevention programmes and practice guidelines in Cyprus and elsewhere should take into account those beneficial effects.
AB - Objective: To examine the adherence to the Mediterranean diet in the adult general population of Cyprus and assess its relationship with multi-morbidity. Design: A representative sample of the adult population of Cyprus was selected in 2018-2019 using stratified sampling. Demographics, Mediterranean diet, smoking and physical activity, as well as the presence of chronic, clinical and mental conditions, were collected using a validated questionnaire. Diseases were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. Setting: The five government-controlled municipalities of the Republic of Cyprus. Participants: A total of 1140 Cypriot men and women over 18 years. Results: The average Mediterranean diet score was 15·5 ± 4·0 with males and residents of rural regions being more adherent to the Mediterranean diet compared with females and residents of urban regions (P < 0·05). Being in the higher tertile of adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with lower odds of multi-morbidity compared with the lower tertile, and this result was statistically significant even after adjusting for age, gender, smoking habits and physical activity (OR = 0·68, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·99). Conclusions: The study provides evidence of the adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Cypriot population and its association with multi-morbidity. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with lower risk of multi-morbidity. Future research would attempt to replicate such results that could add solid pieces of evidence towards meeting some criteria of causality and severity tests; hence, prevention programmes and practice guidelines in Cyprus and elsewhere should take into account those beneficial effects.
KW - Chronic diseases
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Mediterranean diet
KW - Multimorbidity
KW - Nutrition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095702569&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1368980020004267
DO - 10.1017/S1368980020004267
M3 - Article
C2 - 33106201
AN - SCOPUS:85095702569
SN - 1368-9800
VL - 24
SP - 4546
EP - 4555
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
IS - 14
ER -