Avaliação do conhecimento nutricional e de hábitos alimentares de pacientes com doenças crônicas não transmissíveis em hospital particular no sul do Brasil Evaluation of nutritional knowledge and eating habits of patients with chronic non-communicable disease in a private hospital in south Brazil outpatient nutrition service

Introduction: The demand for dietary guidance has grown significantly over the early diagnosis of diseases and the recognition of the power and influence of overweight on them. The population’s awareness that nutrition and good eating habits are essential to maintain control of chronic diseases is very important. Goals: To evaluate the nutritional knowledge and eating habits of a sample of adults with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), admitted to a private hospital in southern Brazil. Methods: A cross sectional study in 40 patients with NCDs, admitted to a cardiology unit of a private hospital. Two questionnaires were used, being one of them a semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), to evaluate the nutritional knowledge of patients by sorting between high, moderate and low expertise. For this we used the Nutritional Knowledge Questionnaire (NKQ). Data were collected from medical records as blood glucose, blood pressure and current diseases. Anthropometric measurements of height and weight were taken to calculate body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference measurements (WCM). Results: The average age of patients was 75.7 ± 13.3 years, and the majority of them were female (60%). 48.7% of the patients were overweight, and women had a higher prevalence of obesity (17.4%) and high WCM (82.4% p <0.001). The nutritional knowledge of the sample was predominantly in the moderate category (86.2%) and Palavras-chave: Conhecimento nutricional Doencas cronicas nao transmissiveis Obesidade Habitos alimentares.