Description:
<jats:p>A model of Sodium intake by Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and socioeconomic characteristics in a sample representative of 59,029,340 Mexican adults were obtained from the Mexican National Survey (2006). A model for the shape and scale parameters of a Gamma distribution was fitted separately by sex, area of residence and age group. Estimation was performed by Maximum Likelihood taking into account the survey design and distribution fit assessed graphically Parameters were compared through formal tests and distributions were described through graphical analysis. The distribution of sodium moments were calculated from the estimated parameters and compared across groups. The scale parameter differed by sex (P=0.024) whereas the shape parameter of the distribution differed by area of residence (P<0.001) and was different in the oldest age group from the 20/29 year olds (P=0.024) and the group of 30/39 years of age (P=0.012). Men distribution is located to the right (high consumption) of Woman distribution, urban area distribution is located to the right of rural distribution, the distribution of the oldest age group is shifted to the left from the other age groups. The gamma model is useful to describe the sodium intake distribution and indicates that there are differences in its shape and scale by sex, area of residence and age group in Mexican adults.</jats:p>