Dietary Assessment in Cardiovascular Patients: Cross-Sectional Insights and Validation of the Greek Cardiovascular Diet Questionnaire 2 (CDQ-2)

Background/Objectives: Dietary recommendations are an essential part of guide-lines for the best management of cardiovascular chronic diseases. The present study aimed to validate the Greek version of Cardiovascular Diet Questionnaire 2 (CDQ-2) and to assess dietary habits among cardiovascular patients. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted. The study population was cardio-vascular patients, users of a private Primary Health Care clinic. The data was collected between December 2024 and January 2025. The questionnaire was translated from French, back-translated, and reviewed by a committee of experts. The MEDAS was used as a gold standard. The psychometric measurements that were performed in-cluded reliability coefficients and Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA). Results: The to-tal sample comprised 90 individuals. The Cronbach’s α was 0.97. A bivariate Pearson's correlation established that there was a strong, statistically significant linear relation-ship between CDQ-2 and MEDAS scores, r(90) = 0.962, p < 0.001. Cardiovascular pa-tients seem to have suboptimal dietary patterns as indicated by the relatively low mean CDQ-2 score of 2.9 (SD = 17.2), along with a mean MEDAS score of 8 (SD = 5.2), with younger (p< 0.001), males (p=0.042), single/divorced/widowed (p< 0.001), individ-uals with lower physical activity (p=0.001), and active smokers (p=0.022) demonstrat-ing significantly poorer adherence to the optimal cardiovascular dietary status. Con-clusions: The survey indicates that the CDQ-2 is a valid and reliable scale to use in cardiovascular patients in Greece. Also, patients are characterized by suboptimal die-tary habits, indicating the need for personalized interventions to improve their dietary habits.