BACKGROUND: Recently, the consumption of away-from-home meals has increased in Korea. This study aimed to evaluate the association of away-from-home-meals and hypertension in Korean adults.METHODS: This cross-sectional survey included 5,533 adults aged 20 to 65 from the 2016 and 2017 results of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Away-from-home meals are defined as meals other than home-cooked food (including delivery food, packaged food, school meals, and religious group food). The frequency of away-from-home meals was classified into three categories: 1) ≥14/week, 2) 5–13/week, and 3) ≤4/week. Moreover, age was classified into three categories: 1) aged 20 to 39, 40 to 59, and 3) age≥60. The association between away-from-home meals and hypertension for each age group was analyzed using logistic regression methods.RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension in adults who consumed away-from-home meals ≥14/week was higher than in those who consumed away-from-home meals ≤13/week. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio for hypertension was 1.327 (95% confidence interval: 0.934–1.885) for those who consumed away-from-home meals ≥14/week and 1.109 (95% confidence interval: 0.860–1.429) for those consumed away-from-home meals 5–13/week.CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that there is no association between increased consumption of away-from-home meals and hypertension in Korean adults.
Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Meals ; Nutrition Surveys ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Sodium