Multiple factors such as ethnicity, increasing age, low socioeconomic status, and being under-educated contribute to increased morbidity and mortality associated with the silent killer known as hypertension. Studies show that despite the tremendous progress in awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, improvements in control of this deadly disease have slowed. New data now indicate an increase in the rate of stroke, end-stage renal disease and heart failure, specifically among the lower socioeconomic, undereducated hypertensive populations. There is a large population of African American lower socioeconomic and undereducated individuals with a high rate of hypertension in the South Apopka community of Central Florida. This study builds on existing data for this population which identified these citizens as having the greatest difficulty following a low fat and low calorie diet. Repeated measures design was used to evaluate the impact of Dietary Approached to Stop Hypertension (DASH), a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, protein, and low-fat dairy products, education on dietary compliance and blood pressure in this population. The Apopka hypertension study predominantly consisted of African American female participants. More that 77% of the participants were greater than 55 years of age. The implementation of the DASH diet significantly lowered systolic blood pressure by 12.62 mm Hg (p=.011). The diastolic pressure decreased by 6.13 mm Hg; however this was not significant. (p~.05). Participants rated their compliance level on a 5 point Likert type scale with the average rating at 3.48 (somewhat compliant). Results from this study indicated that the implementation of the DASH diet was an effective method for achieving dietary control over hypertension for this sample.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:rtd-2812 |
| Date | 01 January 2000 |
| Creators | DeSantis, Christine Idell |
| Publisher | University of Central Florida |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Retrospective Theses and Dissertations |
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