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Lipids and cardiovascular/metabolic health

Dietary patterns and mortality from cardiovascular disease: Isfahan Cohort Study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 71, pages 252–258 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Evidence about the relation between dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is scarce in Middle Eastern countries. This study was performed to examine the association between major dietary patterns and CVD mortality in Iranian adults.

Subjects/Methods:

This population-based prospective cohort study was conducted among 4834 randomly selected participants aged ⩾35 years from urban and rural areas of central Iran (2001–2009) (the Isfahan Cohort Study). Dietary intakes were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and major dietary patterns were identified by means of exploratory factor analysis. Subjects or their next of kin were interviewed biannually looking for possible occurrence of events. Cardiovascular mortality was defined as fatal myocardial infarction, fatal stroke and sudden cardiac death.

Results:

During the median follow-up of 9.0 years and 50 282 person-years, we found a total of 118 CVD mortalities. Four major dietary patterns were identified: 'Western', 'Mediterranean', 'Animal fat' and 'Fast food'. Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern was protectively associated with CVD mortality, such that those in the highest quartile were 46% (hazard ratio (HR): 0.54; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.32–0.91; P-value for trend=0.03) less likely to have incident CVD mortality than those in the lowest quartile. Further adjustment for potential confounders strengthened this association (HR: 0.42; 95% CI: 0.19–0.96; P-value for trend=0.02). We found no significant association between adherence to the Western, animal fat and fast food dietary patterns and CVD mortality.

Conclusions:

Adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular mortality even in a developing country setting.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate the help from Mrs Mansoureh Boshtam with her assistance in data collection. We express our gratitude to the staff of surveillance department who assisted us to find death records. The baseline survey was supported by grant number 31309304. The Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, funded the biannual follow-ups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    N Mohammadifard, M Talaei & N Sarrafzadegan

  2. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    M Talaei

  3. Cardiac Rehabilitation Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    M Sadeghi

  4. Neurology Deportment, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    S Oveisegharan

  5. Hypertension Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    J Golshahi

  6. Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    A Esmaillzadeh

  7. Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    A Esmaillzadeh

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  1. N Mohammadifard
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Correspondence to J Golshahi.

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Mohammadifard, N., Talaei, M., Sadeghi, M. et al. Dietary patterns and mortality from cardiovascular disease: Isfahan Cohort Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 71, 252–258 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.170

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