Changing dietary patterns and associated risk factors on trends in blood pressure levels in middle-aged Irish adults: A population-based study

Hypertension is the most common modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and contributes to more than nine million deaths annually.^1,2 Favourable secular trends in population blood pressure (BP) levels have been reported in many developed countries.² In Ireland, favourable trends in population BP levels have contributed to 28% reduction in coronary heart disease deaths over the past two decades.³ In a modelling study, we have demonstrated that improving specific food choices (including reducing dietary salt intakes) would lead to further reductions in annual CVD deaths.⁴ However, there are methodological challenges directly linking reductions in population dietary salt intakes to observed improvements in CVD outcomes.⁵ Therefore, our study hypothesis is that a favourable secular trend in population BP levels is positively associated with an improvement in population dietary quality that captures dietary salt intake.