Associations of the Social Determinants of Health and Lifestyle Components with Dietary Patterns in a Population of Reproductive Age.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Lifestyle factors, sociodemographic determinants, and dietary patterns play an important role in shaping genitors and fetal health. This study aimed to identify dietary patterns and to investigate the social determinants of health and lifestyle components associated with dietary patterns and body mass index (BMI) in a population of reproductive age.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March 2021 and February 2022. Self-reported data on age, weight, height, social determinants, lifestyle factors, and medical history were collected.

RESULTS

A total of 284 participants of reproductive age (≤40 years of age) were included in the analysis. We identified 3 main dietary patterns: (1) the Prudent pattern, associated with a higher probability of eating 3 meals/day, a longer eating jetlag and a higher probability of being a homemaker, unemployed, or a student; (2) the Western pattern, associated with eating after 9 p.m., a longer eating jetlag and negatively associated with the employment status (i.e., of being a homemaker, unemployed, or a student); and (3) the Unhealthy pattern, associated with being a smoker. Furthermore, using multivariate linear regression, we found that BMI was associated with living in rural area and adopting an Unhealthy dietary pattern. For the Unhealthy pattern, the adherence to it was higher in smoking men > smoking women, with a significant interaction between gender and smoking status ( < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

These data could be helpful in implementing personalized educational interventions in nutrition and lifestyle changes tailored for risk categories in order to improve health in people of reproductive age.