An empirical assessment of diets using a posteriori analysis allows us to define actual dietary patterns (DPs) in the food consumption structure of a population. This study represents an a posteriori assessment of DPs for the Russian population in general as well as their dependence on socio-demographic and regional parameters. The data were obtained from 21,923 individuals aged 25-64 years old from a Russian multicenter study of "Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Diseases in the Regions of the Russian Federation" conducted in 2013-2014. Cross-sectional study subjects were interviewed face-to-face in order to obtain data on their diet. DPs were defined using principal component analysis. Four DPs were specified as "Rational", "Salt", "Meat", and "Mixed"; all these variants together accounted for 55.9% of variance. Diets in gender and age groups corresponded to those for an all-Russian population; in several regions, the defined diets differed from the all-Russian ones. More favorable diet trends were observed among women, people with no family, people not working, and urban dwellers, and diet trends were more favorable with an increase in age, level of education, and material wealth. Thus, a posteriori DPs were defined for the Russian population, which were stable in sex/age groups and were mediated by the socio-demographic characteristics of the population.
Keywords: Russian population; dietary patterns; principal component analysis; regional determinants; socio-demographic characteristics.