The associations between dietary patterns, behavioral lifestyle and chronic diseases in high altitude residents: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Healthy behavioral lifestyles, especially healthy dietary patterns, have beneficial effects on chronic diseases, but the evidence of relationship between the main dietary patterns (DP) and the risk of chronic diseases in high altitude area is still limited.Methods The eligible high altitude residents were enrolled in the cross-sectional study. The food frequency questionnaires were used to collect information about the dietary intake of the participants. The dietary patterns were extracted by principal component analysis (PCA), and the scores for each dietary pattern were farther categorized into tertiles as low(T1), middle(T2) and high(T3). Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between independent variables (dietary patterns, smoking, alcohol drinking, tea drinking and physical exercise) and chronic diseases in the year 2021.Results A total of 606 eligible participants involved in the survey with an average age of 40.7 ± 16.4 year old. 242 (39.9%) participants suffered from at least one chronic disease. Five dietary patterns were identified: dry nuts and beverage, traditional Tibetan, three-high (high-salt, high-carbonhydrate, high-fat), animal-predominant high protein and high dietary fiber pattern. After adjusting for the potential confounders, people in the three-high pattern (T2: OR = 1.81, 95%CI:1.10–2.99, P = 0.020, T3: OR = 1.90, 95%CI:1.09–3.33, P = 0.024), animal-predominant high protein pattern (T2: OR = 2.37, 95%CI:1.42–3.94, P = 0.001), smoking (OR = 1.88, 95%CI:1.06–3.35, P = 0.031) and tea drinking (OR = 1.85, 95%CI:1.13–3.02, P = 0.015) had higher odds of chronic diseases than those in the lowest tertile (T1) or reference group, while people in the traditional Tibetan pattern (T2: OR = 0.47, 95%CI:0.28–0.80, P = 0.006) and participation in physical exercise (OR = 0.62, 95%CI:0.39–0.99, P = 0.044) had lower odds of chronic diseases.Conclusion The traditional Tibetan pattern has a positive effect on decreased risk of chronic diseases among high altitude residents. Furthermore, adhering to a healthy lifestyle, including quitting smoking and enhancing physical activity, can aid in mitigating the risk of chronic diseases in high altitude residents.