The Effect of Brief Versus Individually Tailored Dietary Advice on Change in Lipids, Blood Pressure, and Diet in Patients With Inflammatory Joint Disease

Patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondylo arthropathy (SpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are at high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. International recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular disease recommend smoking cessation, physical activity, and dietary changes as part of treatment. Despite the evidence that behavioral counseling reduces overall cardiovascular risk, it is often an overlooked and underemphasized by clinicians. As of today, there is a knowledge gap regarding the efficacy of less intensive counseling sessions needed to obtain changes in dietary habits and clinical effects on CVD risk factors. Therefore, a brief dietary advice would be preferable if it could give a positive change in dietary habits and cholesterol. We have previously shown in a pilot study (8) that a 4 min. brief advice compared to a 60 min. personal tailored advice by a dietician on heart-friendly diet gave a similar change in dietary habits and LDL-c after 8 weeks in patients with IJD. The aim of the Diet Study is to perform a randomized controlled study comparing brief intervention (4 min) with a personal tailored dietary advice (60 min) on change in LDL-c and change in diet.