Diet-Quality Indexes Are Associated with a Lower Risk of Cardiovascular, Respiratory, and All-Cause Mortality among Chinese Adults.

BACKGROUND

Diet-quality indexes have been associated with a lower risk of chronic disease mortality in Western populations, but it is unclear whether these indexes reflect protective dietary patterns in Asian populations.

OBJECTIVE

We examined the association between Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI) scores and the risk of all-cause cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and respiratory disease mortality.

METHODS

We used data from a prospective cohort of 57,078 Singapore Chinese men and women (aged 45-74 y) who were free of cancer and CVD at baseline (1993-1998) and who were followed up through 2014. The diet-quality index scores were calculated on the basis of data from a validated 165-item food-frequency questionnaire. Cox regression models with adjustment for potential confounders including sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, body mass index, and medical history were used to estimate HRs and 95% CIs.

RESULTS

During a total of 981,980 person-years of follow-up, 15,262 deaths (CVD: 4871; respiratory: 2690; and cancer: 5306) occurred. Comparing the highest with the lowest quintiles, the multivariable adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for all-cause mortality were 0.82 (0.78, 0.86) for AHEI-2010, 0.80 (0.76, 0.85) for aMED, 0.80 (0.75, 0.84) for DASH, and 0.88 (0.83, 0.92) for HDI scores (all P-trend < 0.001). Higher diet index scores were associated with a 14-28% lower risk of CVD and respiratory mortality, but only a 5-12% lower risk of cancer mortality. Higher consumption of vegetables, fruit, nuts, and long-chain n-3 (ω-3) fatty acids, lower consumption of red meat, and avoidance of high alcohol consumption were the diet index components associated with a lower risk of mortality.

CONCLUSION

Adherence to several recommended dietary patterns that emphasize healthy plant-based foods was associated with a substantially lower risk of chronic disease mortality in an Asian population. The Singapore Chinese Health Study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03356340.