Background and Objective:

A priori dietary patterns are useful to assess the diet quality of populations and verify if it is in accordance with the nutritional guidelines. This study aims to identify the correlation between three dietary patterns/ indexes in a group of people living with HIV (PLWHIV), in São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods:

The cross-sectional study was performed with patients registered at the HIV-specialized outpatient (SEAP-HCFMUSP), ≥ 18 years old, both sex with undetectable viral load. Dietary intake was assessed using two 24-hour Food Recalls in non-consecutive days, calculated for energy and macronutrients. The patterns/ indexes used from the database were: Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), Mediterranean Diet Score (Meddiet score) and NOVA classification - calculated the percentage of energy derived from each group (minimally processed food, culinary ingredients, processed and ultra-processed). We run a Spearman’s correlation between the three dietary indexes/ patterns. The p-values <0.05 were considered significant. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (Protocol: 3,100,321).

Results:

The sample was composed of 38 PLWHIV, 79% male, age (46.6 ± 7.9 years), with the majority having completed higher education or more (57.9%). The percentage of caloric contribution of culinary ingredients showed a negative correlation with the Meddiet score (=-0.341; p=0.04) and consumption of ultra-processed foods (= -0.74; p < 0.001). On the other hand, the consumption of processed foods showed a positive correlation with the DII (= 0.55; p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

The results show a significative correlation between the patterns/indexes, especially the Meddiet score and DII with the NOVA classification groups. A priori analysis techniques can be used to complement each other and improve the interpretation of diet quality.