Background: Hypertension is a risk factor for many diseases. Nutritional methods are considered as major tools in lifestyle modification for lowering blood pressure. The present study was conducted to determine the level of dietary adherence in hypertensive patients.

Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed in 2015, on hypertensive patients who were referred to Heart Clinic of Sayyad Shirazi Hospital in Gorgan. Overall, 200 patients (62% female) were selected by purposive sampling. The dietary adherence was evaluated in five following groups of salt-, fat-, fruit-, vegetables- -and dairies-intake through daily completion of data collection form within two weeks. This form was designed by the researchers and its validity and reliability were tested in a pilot study. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney, Chi-square, and logistic regression analysis tests.

Results: The mean and standard deviation (SD) of age of patients was 48.6±7.51 years. Mean and SD of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients were 152.31±9.1 and 93.53±2.87 mmHg, respectively. The results showed that 7% of patients had complete dietary adherence, 66.5% had poor adherence, and rest of the subjects had average dietary adherence. The highest level of dietary adherence was observed in the case of diaries intake (43.5%) and the lowest was related to fruit intake (3.5%).

Conclusion: Given the importance of dietary adherence in controlling hypertension and lack of dietary adherence in hypertensive patients, it is recommended to conduct further studies to identify factors affecting dietary adherence and implement necessary interventions to improve this issue in patients.