Objective To investigate the current status of the knowledge

attitude and practice（KAP）about the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension（DASH）diet among hypertensive patients from main urban districts of Chongqing

which may provide evidence and insights into DASH health education for hypertensive populations.Methods Based on two randomly selected community health centers from two randomly selected urban districts of Chongqing

a total of 445 hypertensive patients who visited these health centers between April and June

2016 were surveyed.Face-to-face interviews were performed with the use of a self-designed DASH-related KAP questionnaire

and data were collected and statistically analyzed.Results Among these hypertensive patients

the mean scores of DASH-related knowledge

attitude and practice domains were 3.5±1.9

6.0±0.9

and 5.1±1.4

respectively.Patients had little knowledge about fruit and dairy product intake recommended by DASH

with an awareness rate of 3.4% and 3.1%

respectively.About 64.1% of patients agreed or totally agreed that "a healthy diet can help to control blood pressure"

while 24.7% had an indifferent attitude to " hypertension is nothing serious".Moreover

the DASH recommended amounts of fruits

dairy products and nuts were achieved in 1.6%

1.6% and 2.5% of patients

respectively.The Spearman′s correlation analysis found positive correlations among DASH-related knowledge

attitude and practice in these hypertensive patients（P<0.01）.Besides

the scores of DASH-related knowledge

attitude and practice domains varied significantly with smoking status（F=3.618

22.276

11.456;P<0.05）

blood pressure monitoring frequency（F=13.106

7.053

6.695;P<0.05）

as well as body mass monitoring frequency（F=7.377

6.395

6.010;P<0.05）.Conclusion The hypertensive patients from main urban districts of Chongqing have a low knowledge level about the DASH diet and many unhealthy dietary behaviors

but their attitude is generally positive.Therefore

it is important to enhance DASH health education for these hypertensive populations

so as to improve their knowledge level and thereby promote the modification of their unhealthy dietary behaviors.