PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Jennifer L Dearborn AU - Tehmina Khera AU - Meghan Peterson AU - Zartashia Shahab AU - Walter N Kernan TI - Diet quality in patients with stroke AID - 10.1136/svn-2018-000224 DP - 2019 Sep 01 TA - Stroke and Vascular Neurology PG - 154--157 VI - 4 IP - 3 4099 - http://svn.bmj.com/content/4/3/154.short 4100 - http://svn.bmj.com/content/4/3/154.full SO - Stroke Vasc Neurol2019 Sep 01; 4 AB - Objective A healthy diet is associated with reduced risk for stroke, myocardial infarction, cancer and death. We examined the prevalence of a healthy diet in patients with a recent stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA).Methods We recruited a convenience sample of 95 patients with a recent ischaemic stroke or TIA. Using information from a 125-item Food Frequency Questionnaire, we calculated dietary quality and the percentage of patients meeting recommended daily intake (RDI) for common macronutrients and elements.Results The mean age of patients was 66 years (SD: 16) and 46% were women. 39 patients (41%) were classified as having a healthy diet (35% of men and 48% of women). The majority of patients were within the RDI for carbohydrates (56.8%), total fat (61.1%), long-chain n-3 fats (68.4%), polyunsaturated fats (79.0%) and protein (96.8%). Very few patients consumed the recommended intake for sodium (25.3%), and even fewer consumed the RDI for potassium (4.2%), with the majority of patients consuming too much sodium and too little potassium.Conclusion We found that most patients with recent stroke or TIA were not following a healthy diet before their stroke event. For most patients, sodium intake was much above and potassium intake was much below RDI.