Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Incident Stroke in a Population With Varying Cardiovascular Disease Risk Profiles

Katherine E Paterson; Phyo K Myint; Amy Jennings; Lucy K M Bain; Marleen A H Lentjes; Kay-Tee Khaw; Ailsa A Welch

doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.020258

Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Incident Stroke in a Population With Varying Cardiovascular Disease Risk Profiles

Stroke. 2018 Oct;49(10):2415-2420. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.020258. Epub 2018 Sep 20.

Authors

Katherine E Paterson^{1

2}, Phyo K Myint³, Amy Jennings⁴, Lucy K M Bain¹, Marleen A H Lentjes⁵, Kay-Tee Khaw⁵, Ailsa A Welch¹

Affiliations

¹ From the Department of Population Health and Primary Care (K.E.P., L.K.M.B., A.A.W.), Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom.
² Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Norfolk & Norwich University NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom (K.E.P.).
³ School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom (P.K.M.).
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine (A.J.), Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom.
⁵ Clinical Gerontology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (M.A.H.L., K.-T.K.).

Abstract

Background and purpose—: Although some evidence has found that the Mediterranean diet (MD) is protective for stroke risk, few studies have investigated whether this relationship differs by sex or cardiovascular disease risk.

Methods—: We investigated the relationship between adherence to the MD score, estimated using 7-day dietary diaries and risk of incident stroke in an observational prospective population-based cohort study of 23 232 men and women (54.5% women) aged 40 to 77 years who participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer study in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Risk of incident stroke was calculated using multivariable Cox regression, in the whole population, and also stratified by sex and cardiovascular disease risk profile, using the Framingham risk score.

Results—: During 17.0 years of follow-up (395 048 total person-years), 2009 incident strokes occurred. Risk of stroke was significantly reduced with greater adherence to the MD score (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 hazard ratio [HR], 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.94; P-trend <0.01) in the whole population and in women (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.65, 0.93; P-trend <0.01) but not in men (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.79-1.12; P-trend =0.55). There was reduced risk of stroke in those at high risk of cardiovascular disease and across categories of the MD score (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 HR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.76-0.99; P-trend =0.04). However, this was driven by the associations in women (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.65-0.97; P-trend =0.02).

Conclusions—: Greater adherence to the MD was associated with lower risk of stroke in a UK white population. For the first time in the literature, we also investigated the associations between the MD score in those at both low and high risk of cardiovascular disease. Although the findings in our study were driven by the associations in women, they have implications for the general public and clinicians for prevention of stroke.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; diet; epidemiology; stroke; women.

Abstract

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