Relationship Between Dietary Patterns and Carotid Atherosclerosis Among People Aged 50 Years or Older: A Population-Based Study in China

Yunyun Liu; Xuena Wang; Qing Zhang; Ge Meng; Li Liu; Hongmei Wu; Yeqing Gu; Shunming Zhang; Yawen Wang; Tingjing Zhang; Magdalena J Górska; Shaomei Sun; Xing Wang; Ming Zhou; Qiyu Jia; Kun Song; Liping Tan; Kaijun Niu

doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.723726

Relationship Between Dietary Patterns and Carotid Atherosclerosis Among People Aged 50 Years or Older: A Population-Based Study in China

Front Nutr. 2021 Dec 1:8:723726. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.723726. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yunyun Liu¹, Xuena Wang², Qing Zhang³, Ge Meng^{2

4}, Li Liu³, Hongmei Wu², Yeqing Gu⁵, Shunming Zhang², Yawen Wang², Tingjing Zhang², Magdalena J Górska², Shaomei Sun³, Xing Wang³, Ming Zhou³, Qiyu Jia³, Kun Song⁶, Liping Tan¹, Kaijun Niu^{2

3

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
² Nutritional Epidemiology Institute and School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
³ Health Management Center, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China.
⁴ Department of Toxicology and Sanitary Chemistry, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
⁵ Nutrition and Radiation Epidemiology Research Center, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China.
⁶ Center for International Collaborative Research on Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, Tianjin, China.
⁷ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Background: The relationship between dietary patterns and atherosclerosis is inconclusive. Usually, diets vary greatly among different regions due to cultural differences and lifestyles. Few studies to date based on a Chinese population have investigated the relationship between dietary patterns and the formation of atherosclerosis in carotid arteries. We aimed to investigate whether dietary patterns were related to carotid atherosclerosis among an adult population in Tianjin, China. Methods: This cross-sectional study included a total of 2,346 participants aged 50 years or older (mean: 59.7 ± 6.29 years). Dietary intakes were assessed using a validated 81-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire, and factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns. Carotid atherosclerosis was defined as a common carotid artery intima-media thickness ≥1.0 mm or plaques, or a carotid bifurcation intima-media thickness ≥1.2 mm. Multiple logistic regression models were used to explore the relationship between dietary patterns and carotid atherosclerosis. Results: Three factors were determined: "health" dietary pattern (factor 1), "traditional Tianjin" dietary pattern (factor 2), and "sweets" dietary pattern (factor 3). The multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) of carotid atherosclerosis for the increasing quartiles of the sweets dietary pattern scores in women were as follows: 1.00 (reference), 1.33 (0.91, 1.97), 1.21 (0.82, 1.79), 1.64 (1.08, 2.51) (p for trend <0.05). No significant difference was found between any dietary pattern and carotid atherosclerosis in men. Conclusion: Greater adherence to "sweets" dietary patterns was positively related to a higher prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in women aged 50 or older. No relationship was found between any dietary pattern and carotid atherosclerosis in men. Further prospective studies are warranted to test this finding in other populations.

Keywords: Chinese population; carotid atherosclerosis; cross-sectional; dietary patterns; nutritional epidemiology.