Effect of salt substitution on community-wide blood pressure and hypertension incidence
File(s)_All_Accepted.pdf (2.47 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Replacement of regular salt with potassium-enriched substitutes reduces blood pressure in controlled situations, mainly among people with hypertension. We report on a population-wide implementation of this strategy in a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial (NCT01960972). The regular salt in enrolled households was retrieved and replaced, free of charge, with a combination of 75% NaCl and 25% KCl. A total of 2,376 participants were enrolled in 6 villages in Tumbes, Peru. The fully adjusted intention-to-treat analysis showed an average reduction of 1.29 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (95% CI) (−2.17, −0.41)) in systolic and 0.76 mm Hg (95% CI (−1.39, −0.13)) in diastolic blood pressure. Among participants without hypertension at baseline, in the time- and cluster-adjusted model, the use of the salt substitute was associated with a 51% (95% CI (29%, 66%)) reduced risk of developing hypertension compared with the control group. In 24-h urine samples, there was no evidence of differences in sodium levels (mean difference 0.01; 95% CI (0.25, −0.23)), but potassium levels were higher at the end of the study than at baseline (mean difference 0.63; 95% CI (0.78, 0.47)). Our results support a case for implementing a pragmatic, population-wide, salt-substitution strategy for reducing blood pressure and hypertension incidence.
Date Issued
2020-02-17
Date Acceptance
2020-01-07
Citation
Nature Medicine, 2020, 26, pp.374-378
ISSN
1078-8956
Publisher
Nature Research
Start Page
374
End Page
378
Journal / Book Title
Nature Medicine
Volume
26
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Springer Nature Limited.
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0754-2
Grant Number
214185/Z/18/Z
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cell Biology
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Research & Experimental Medicine
TO-POTASSIUM RATIO
CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE
STEPPED WEDGE
SODIUM
METAANALYSIS
REDUCTION
PREVENTION
MORTALITY
CHINESE
ADULTS
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cell Biology
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Research & Experimental Medicine
TO-POTASSIUM RATIO
CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE
STEPPED WEDGE
SODIUM
METAANALYSIS
REDUCTION
PREVENTION
MORTALITY
CHINESE
ADULTS
Adult
Blood Pressure
Case-Control Studies
Diastole
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Hypertension
Incidence
Male
Peru
Potassium
Residence Characteristics
Sodium
Sodium Chloride, Dietary
Surveys and Questionnaires
Systole
11 Medical and Health Sciences
Immunology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-02-17