Mediterranean diet adherence in patients with congenital heart disease

The Mediterranean diet, based on a rural life where people ate what they grew, has shown cardiovascular benefits. Cross-sectional study of congenital heart disease (CHD) patients recruited consecutively from a single hospital outpatient clinic with the aim of determining their adherence to the Mediterranean diet according to the PREDIMED questionnaire. CHD complexity was categorized as simple, moderate, or great and demographic, clinical and blood test data were recorded. 200 CHD patients, median age 28 (16-54) years old and 120 (60%) males were studied. 45 (22.5%), 122 (61%) and 33 (16.5%) CHD patients had simple, moderate, and great complexity defects respectively. PREDIMED score was classified as low (score 0-5), intermediate (6-9) or high (> 9). 146 (83%) CHD patients showed a suboptimal Mediterranean diet adherence (PREDIMED score < 9) with less than half of patients eating enough vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish or nuts but with a high intake of butter/margarine, commercial sweets and carbonated beverages. No significant differences were seen between sex, body mass index, cardiovascular risk factors, CHD complexity or the educational level and the PREDIMED scores. Only being married was associated with a significant lower Mediterranean diet adherence (P=0.019). Meanwhile, no statistical significance was observed between serum glucose, creatinine, uric acid, albumin, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol or triglycerides levels according to the PREDIMED classification (low, intermediate or high adherence). Conclusions: CHD patients have a low adherence to the Mediterranean diet with a low intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and fish.