Eating behavior and nutritional status in patients who underwent coronary angioplasty

Introduction: The identification of stages of dietary change and the factors affecting food choices can direct more effective nutritional intervention against coronary heart disease progression. Objective: Identify the stages of change of eating behavior and its relation with nutritional status, food consumption and previous cardiovascular events in patients who underwent coronary angioplasty. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 200 hospitalized patients from a specialized cardiology hospital, after elective coronary angioplasty. They were applied an algorithm that identifies the provision of change of eating habits for a healthier pattern. Variables measured were stages of change of eating behavior, nutritional status, food consumption and cardiovascular events (previous myocardial infarction or angioplasty). It was realized comparison of averages by analysis of variance or Student's test and Chi-square test for qualitative variables. Value of significance was taken at 5%. Results: The patients were classified in the following stages: 36% maintenance, 26% preparation, 17% precontemplation, 12% action and 9% contemplation. It was observed higher cardiovascular events in maintenance/action group (p = 0.04), higher consumption of calories (p = 0.04), meat/eggs (p = 0.01) and sweets (p = 0.03) in preparation stage, comparing to maintenance group, and no association between nutritional status and stages of change (p = 0.13), although 62% of the individuals in maintenance stage were overweight. Conclusions: This work contributed to identifying the stages of change and conditions that favor changes in eating pattern. Even patients that classified themselves into the maintenance stage need to adjust their eating habits in order to reach a healthy weight.

Estágios de mudança de comportamento e fatores associados à prática de atividade física em indivíduos com claudicação intermitente

OBJECTIVE: To analyze, in people with intermittent claudication, the frequency of individuals who are in each of stages of health behavior change to practice physical activity, and analyze the association of these stages with the walking capacity. METHODS: We recruited 150 patients with intermittent claudication treated at a tertiary center, being included those >30-year-old-individuals and who had ankle-arm index <0.90. We obtained socio-demographic information, presence of comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors and stages of health behavior change to practice physical activity through a questionnaire, they being pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Moreover, the walking capacity was measured in a treadmill test (Gardner protocol). RESULTS: Most individuals were in the maintenance stage (42.7%), however, when the stages of health behavior change were categorized into active (action and maintenance) and inactive (pre-contemplation, contemplation and preparation),51.3% of the individuals were classified as inactive behavior. There was no association between stages of health behavior change, sociodemographic factors and cardiovascular risk factors. However, patients with intermittent claudication who had lower total walking distance were three times more likely to have inactive behavior. CONCLUSION: Most patients with intermittent claudication showed an inactive behavior and, in this population, lower walking capacity was associated with this behavior.