Knowledge, attitudes and practices on salt consumption in the Peruvian population: A cross-sectional study

Knowledge, attitudes and practices about salt consumption in the Peruvian population: A crosssectional study. Introduction: Reducing salt intake has been identified as one of the priority interventions to prevent non- communicable diseases worldwide. For this reason, it is recommended that one of the three pillars to reduce its intake is to recognize the level of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices related to salt consumption (CAP-salt, in Spanish). Objective: To determine the level of CAP- salt and the factors associated with these in the Peruvian population. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional analytical study carried out through a virtual survey of the Peruvian population. Results: We studied 918 subjects. The proportion of patients with sufficient knowledge, attitudes and practices was 54.58 %; 50.22 % and 40.31 %, respectively. The factors that increase the probability of having sufficient CAPsalt were female sex, the presence of obesity and hypertension. While family history and area of residence were only for knowledge, the degree of education for knowledge and practices, and physical activity for both attitudes and practices. Conclusions: The level of knowledge and sufficient attitudes are present in half of the population, but the practices are below this. In turn, several gaps vary according to sociodemographic characteristics, such as age, sex, history of hypertension, obesity, and physical activity, which could be the target of the new population awareness goals. Arch Latinoam Nutr 2022; 72(4): 264-273.