Author/Authors :
Gholami, Ali Department of Public Health - School of Public Health - Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran , Sohrabi, Masoudreza Gastrointestinal & Liver Disease Research Center - Firoozgar Hospital - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Abbasi-Ghahramanloo, Abbas Health Management Research Center - Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Moradpour, Farhad Social Determinants of Health Research Center - Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran , Safiri, Saeid Department of Public Health - School of Nursing and Midwifery - Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran , Maadi, Mansooreh Gastrointestinal & Liver Disease Research Center - Firoozgar Hospital - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Khazaee-Pool, Maryam Department of Health Education and Promotion - School of Health - Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran , Ghanbari, Ali Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Zamani, Farhad Gastrointestinal & Liver Disease Research Center - Firoozgar Hospital - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract :
Background: An unhealthy diet is one of the most important risk factors for chronic diseases. The goal of this study was to use the
latent class analysis (LCA) modeling to define unhealthy diet habits among an Iranian population.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted within the framework of Amol (North of Iran) cohort health study (Phase 1).
The participants aged 10 to 90 years. All participants provided written informed consent. Latent class analysis was used to classify the
participants of the study. All analyses were conducted by PROC LCA in SAS 9.2 software. Significance level was set at 0.05.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 42.58±17.23 years. Four classes of individuals with different diet habits were identified
using LCA modeling: class 1: individuals with healthy diet patterns (92.6%); class 2: individuals with slightly unhealthy diet
habits (6.3%); class 3: individuals with relatively unhealthy diet habits (0.8%); and class 4: individuals with unhealthy diet habits
(0.2%). Being female and alcohol consumption increased the odds of membership in latent classes 2,3, and 4 compared to class 1.
Physical activity decreased the odds of membership in classes 3 and 4 compared to class 1.
Conclusion: Overall, almost more than 7.4% of all participants had some degree of unhealthy dietary habits, and some variables
acted as risk factors for membership in risky classes. Therefore, focusing on these variables may help design and execute effective
preventive interventions in groups with unhealthy dietary habits.
