Educational Intervention for Sodium Restriction in Patients With Hypertension

The Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention for Sodium Restriction in Patients With Hypertension: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

This parallel, randomized clinical trial will include 120 participants. They will be allocated to a sodium restriction educational intervention or usual care groups. The educational intervention will be planned based on the DSRQ application and sessions will be conducted once a month for the period of six months. Both spot urine collection to estimate sodium intake and the DSRQ will be applied at the baseline, in the eighth week and at the end of the follow-up. Blood sample and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) will be conducted at the beginning and at the end of the follow-up. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure measurement and 24-hour food recall will be collected during follow-up.

This parallel, randomized clinical trial will include 120 participants. They will be allocated to a sodium restriction educational intervention or usual care groups. The educational intervention will be planned based on the DSRQ application and sessions will be conducted once a month for the period of six months. Both spot urine collection to estimate sodium intake and the DSRQ will be applied at the baseline, in the eighth week and at the end of the follow-up. Blood sample and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) will be conducted at the beginning and at the end of the follow-up. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure measurement and 24-hour food recall will be collected during follow-up. The study 'The effectiveness of an educational intervention to sodium restriction in patients with hypertension' is based on the results of the DSRQ application, whose objective is to evaluate aspects related to non-adherence to the recommendation of a low-sodium diet, identifying adherence barriers and facilitators, contributing to the planning of interventions for improving the adoption of a low-sodium diet and, consequently, better hypertension control.

Inclusion Criteria:

• female and male individuals, ageing from 40 to 80 years old, in treatment and monitored at the hypertensive outpatient department of HCPA. Participants must not have been monitored by a nutritionist or followed a nutritional orientation for over than six months

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnancy or lactating; gastrointestinal tract disease; inflammatory disease; chemotherapy treatment; diabetes diagnosis; incapacity to follow an interview and/or to participate in the intervention program without the need of a third party involvement