The Association between Dietary Diversity Score and Somatoform Complaints Profile among Iranian Adults

Abstract

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the association between dietary diversity score (DDS) and somatoform complaints profile.Methods: The current cross-sectional study was conducted on 2818 adults aged 19-65 years working in Isfahan province, Iran. A Dish-based 106-item Semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (DS-FFQ) was used to collect dietary intake of participants. Somatoform symptoms were assessed using a validated comprehensive 31-items questionnaire.Results: After adjusting for the impacts of various confounders it was revealed that lower DDS is associated with higher risk of experiencing greater scores of psychological (OR=1.44, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.95; P=0.029) and pharyngeal-respiratory (OR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.17, 2.04; P=0.009) somatoform complaints. No significant association was found between DDS and neuro-skeletal and gastrointestinal somatoform complaints. In addition, stratified analysis by sex indicated that the lower DDS increased the risk of higher scores of psychological (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.17, 2.56; P = 0.02) and pharyngeal-respiratory (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.22, 2.49, P = 0.007) somatic complaints in women, but not in men.Conclusion: Present study indicated that the lower DDS is associated with higher risk of psychological and pharyngeal-respiratory somatoform complaints. Future prospective studies and particularly clinical trials are warranted to confirm these findings.