Nutrition habits of patients operated because of coronary heart disease: income structure linkage.

Purpose: The purpose of the above work is description and assessment of nutritional habits of the patient group operated because of CHD in relation to their income sources.

Material and methods: Among 100 patients hospitalized in The Cardiosurgery Clinic of Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, (72 M and 28 F) there were collected data concerning nutritional habits and income sources. To estimate the way of nutrition there was used the method of a direct interview, led individually according to the questions of an anonymous questionnaire. Quantitative biomedical data connected with body mass index (BMI), systolic (RRs) and diastolic (RRd) blood pressure and total cholesterol (CHL) came from the hospital files.

Results: The diet of all investigated people was not consistent with the requirements of rational nutrition in respect of quality (sort of meat, brown bread, fruit and vegetables) and daily quantity of meals. This incorrectness was particularly showed in not working group of people (pensioners, people on unemployment benefits). Almost all measured parameters (BMI, CHL, RRs), except RRd, are higher than commonly admitted referenced values.

Conclusions: Our investigated category of patients proves how important is adapting to the requirements of rational nutrition, especially in lower socio-economic status societies.