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Original research
Adherence to Healthy Eating Index-2015 and severity of disease in hospitalised military patients with COVID-19: a cross sectional study
  1. Karim Parastouei1,
  2. S Shokooee Jud2,
  3. M Sepandi1,
  4. S Abbaszadeh1,
  5. M Samadi3,
  6. GH Meftahi4 and
  7. M Taghdir1
  1. 1 Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of)
  2. 2 Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene—Faculty of Health, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of)
  3. 3 Exercise Physiology Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of)
  4. 4 Neuroscience Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of)
  1. Correspondence to Dr M Taghdir, Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of); mtaghdir{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Introduction Proper nutrition can play an important role in preventing and improving disease progression in patients with COVID-19. The Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) is one of the most common measures used to assess overall nutritional quality. This research aimed to identify the relationship between the HEI-2015 score and disease severity in hospitalised military patients with COVID-19.

Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in 295 hospitalised military patients (retired military and military reserve) with COVID-19. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess food intake. To evaluate the quality of the diet, the HEI-2015 score was calculated. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to measure the association between HEI-2015 scores and disease severity (intensive care unit (ICU) admission and length of hospital stay greater than 4 days) in hospitalised military patients with COVID-19.

Results The mean HEI-2015 score was significantly higher in non-ICU patients than in ICU patients (58.39±15.02 vs 53.54±15.65, p=0.01). After adjusting for possible confounding factors including age, sex, comorbidities, calorie intake, body mass index and physical activity, adherence to HEI-2015 inversely related to ICU admission (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.00) and length of hospital stay of more than 4 days (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.97 to 1.00) in hospitalised military patients with COVID-19, although statistically not significant.

Conclusions According to the results of the study, adherence to HEI-2015 inversely related to both ICU admission and length of hospital stay in hospitalised military patients with COVID-19, although it was not statistically significant.

  • COVID-19
  • nutrition & dietetics
  • epidemiology

Data availability statement

Data are available on reasonable request.

https://doi.org/10.1136/military-2022-002173

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available on reasonable request.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors KP, SSJ, MSep, SA, MSam, GHM and MT studied the concept and designed the study. KP, SSJ and MT collected data. KP, SSJ, MSep, SA, MSam, GHM and MT analysed and interpreted of data. MT drafted the manuscript. KP, SSJ, MSep, SA, MSam, GHM and MT revise MT and KP are responsible for the overall content as the guarantor. d the manuscript. All authors are in agreement with the manuscript and declare that the content has not been published elsewhere.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.