Open AccessDietary intake of persons with depressive and psychotic disorders in Singapore
Author(s) -
Ying Ying Lee,
Jue Hua Lau,
Vanessa Seet,
Clare Whitton,
P. V. Asharani,
Fiona Devi Siva Kumar,
Peizhi Wang,
Kumarasan Roystonn,
Laxman Cetty,
Swapna Verma,
Yee Ming Mok,
Mythily Subramaniam
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals, academy of medicine, singapore/annals of the academy of medicine, singapore
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0304-4602
DOI - 10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.2020585
Subject(s) - medicine , dash , confidence interval , mental health , outpatient clinic , population , dash diet , psychiatry , environmental health , blood pressure , computer science , operating system
: Nutritional psychiatry is an emerging field of study that investigates the role of dietand nutrition in mental health. Studies conducted in the general population have linked depressivesymptoms with poor dietary patterns. The aim of this study was to characterise the dietary intake andanalyse the dietary pattern using the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) in a sample ofpsychiatric patients in a multiethnic Asian nation.Methods: Participants were recruited from an outpatient clinic and an inpatient unit at the Instituteof Mental Health in Singapore. Self-reported dietary habits of a sample of psychiatric patients (N=380)were analysed using DASH. To examine the variables associated with DASH scores, a linear regressionwas conducted with the full sample and sociodemographic variables.Results: Persons with depressive disorders had a mean DASH score of 21.3 (±4.2), while personswith psychotic disorders had a mean DASH score of 21.2 (±4.9). Respondents who were older (B=1.94,95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91–2.96, P<0.001), female (B=1.09, 95% CI 0.07–2.11, P=0.04) andeconomically inactive (B=1.98, 95% CI 0.006–3.96, P=0.049) were more likely to report a higher dietquality compared with their respective counterparts, while smokers (B= -1.39, 95% CI -2.45 to -0.34,P=0.009) tended to report a lower diet quality compared with their non-smoking counterparts.Conclusion: Dietary patterns of persons with mental disorders were characterised. A host ofsociodemographic factors, and not diagnosis of mental disorders, influenced the dietary quality ofpeople with depressive and psychotic disorders. Clinicians treating psychiatric patients need to be awareof the nuanced reasons behind poor dietary choices and provide targeted psychoeducation to specificsubgroups within the patient population.Keywords: Depression, diet, nutritional psychiatry, psychosis, smoking