Knowledge, attitude and behavior on salt and health among primary school students in Jinan / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice(KAP) of salt and health among primary school students in Jinan, and to provide scientific evidence for targeted interventions.@*Methods@#1 293 primary school students of grade 4 in Jinan were randomly selected by cluster sampling method, and a self-designed questionnire on "salt and health" was applied among them.@*Results@#Among grade 4 students in Jinan, 35.73% were aware the diagnostic criteria of hypertension in adults, 67.67% were aware that eating less salt help lowering blood pressure. The proportion of students who knew the recommended daily intake of salt for adults, children aged 1-6 years and for children aged 7-13 years was 55.68%, 53.21% and 50.62%, respectively. The proportion of students who favor lower intake of salt(70.84%), actively choose low-salt food(65.89%), received publicity or education on low-salt diet(72.85%), pay attention to the salt/sodium content when purchasing packaged food(73.01%), believe that packaged food should be labelled with salt/sodium content(84.45%), and heard of low-sodium salt (alternative salt)(57.77%).The boys and girls were found no statistical significance in the differences of their attitude toward controlling salt, skills and behaviors(P<0.05),with 68.05% of boys and 73.91% of girls agreed, 13.76% of boys and 9.24% of girls reported no attention paid. There was no significant difference in other salt control attitudes, skills and behaviors between boys and girls(P>0.05).@*Conclusion@#A series of interventions taken by Shandong Ministry of Health Action on Salt Reduction and Hypertension (SMASH) within schools show positive effects. However, gaps in salt taste and salt intake among primary school students still exist, suggesting health education should be further strengthened in respect of daily salt intake recommendation, salt intake attitude and behaviors, especially for boys.