Household dietary salt consumption and mortality from cardiovascular diseases: an ecological panel analysis in Japan

Epidemiological evidence has shown that lower salt intake reduces hypertension-related disease mortality. Japan has experienced a drastic decrease in cardiovascular mortality, although this varies across regions. This regional variation does not necessarily match the local patterns of reported average salt intake. In this study, we examined population-level risk factors for hypertension-related disease mortality, focussing on the average household dietary consumption of salt intake sources.

We prepared an ecological panel dataset, with prefecture as the unit of analysis, by referring to public statistics and market research data from 2012 to 2015. We collected prefectural averages of household dietary consumption related to salt intake and other nutrients that may affect hypertension control. We used demographic characteristics, medical care availability and local economy indices as covariates. Panel data analysis with fixed-effects modelling was performed, regressing prefectural-level mortality from ischaemic heart diseases, subarachnoid and intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral infarction on dietary consumption and the selected covariates.

We confirmed the average household consumption of salt equivalents of discretional salt intake sources to be positively but only weakly associated with mortality from ischaemic heart diseases and cerebral infarction. Household expenditure on processed foods was positively associated with ischaemic heart disease mortality.

These findings may suggest that the reduction of salt in processed foods, in addition to individual behavioural change, could be useful for decreasing mortality from ischaemic heart diseases in the Japanese population. Ecological factors related to decreasing cerebrovascular disease mortality in the context of the ageing Japanese population require further investigation.