Abstract: Objective To understand the relationship between eating out and salt intake among residents of six provinces in China, and to provide a scientific basis for the development of relevant salt reduction strategies. Methods A questionnaire survey, physical measurements, and 24-hour urine collection were conducted in 12 counties in six provinces, namely Hebei, Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Jiangxi, and Hunan, using multistage cluster sampling to select residents aged 18-75 years. The Chi-square test was used to analyze the eating out and salt intake of different population groups, and the disordered multiple logistic regression model was used to analyze the correlation between residents' eating out and salt intake. Results A total of 2 428 subjects were included in the study, including 1 225 (50.45%) males, 1 171 (48.23%) urban residents, and 471 (19.40%) people who asked for less salt when eating out, with the total rate of eating out being 26.98%. There were 247 (10.17%) people in the moderate salt intake group, 1 575 (64.87%) in the mildly excessive group, and 606 (24.96%) in the severely excessive group. Compared with the severely excessive group and the moderate salt intake group, the risk of severely exceeding salt intake was higher in the frequent eating out group than in the non-eating out group (OR=1.868, 95% CI: 1.035-3.369, P=0.011). Conclusion High frequency eating out behavior is associated with high salt intake, and residents have weak awareness of asking for less salt when eating out.

Key words: Eating out behavior, Salt intake, 24-hour urine, Salt reduction behavior