Major Dietary Patterns of Women Living in Urban and Rural Areas of Dashtestan County (Bushehr Province), 2017

Background: The pattern of dietary intake reflects the preferences and dietary habits of individuals and their socio-economic and demographic status such as ethnicity and place of residence. So far, various studies have examined the dietary patterns of different populations in Iran, but the information on eating patterns of rural areas is limited in comparison with urban regions. The aim of this study was to identify major dietary patterns and to compare the scores of these patterns in women living in urban and rural areas of Dashtestan County, (Bushehr province), 2017. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 302 women (168 urban and 134 rural) aged 20_59 years old living in Dashtestan county were sampled with multistage sampling method (stratified cluster sampling). Dietary intake was assessed by filling the standard semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire in face-to-face interviews. Factor analysis method was used for identifying major dietary patterns. The Mann-Whitney analysis was used to compare the extracted pattern scores in urban and rural women. Results: Three major dietary patterns were extracted: Healthy, western and traditional. The score of western pattern was significantly higher in urban women (p<0.05). The score of other patterns was not significantly different between urban and rural areas. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that although Dashtestan county is not a metropolitan area, the rate of compliance with the western food pattern is notable in urban women. Educational programs should be adopted for promoting nutritional status of the study population.