Pre-diagnosis and post-diagnosis dietary patterns and survival in women with ovarian cancer

Background: Evidence is limited on inflammation-related dietary patterns and mortality in ovarian cancer survivors.

Methods: We examined the associations between pre- and post-diagnosis dietary patterns, including change in diet from before to after diagnosis, and mortality among 1003 ovarian cancer survivors in two prospective cohort studies. Dietary pattern scores for empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) were calculated based on food frequency questionnaires. We used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for ovarian cancer-specific and all-cause mortality.

Results: Pre-diagnosis EDIP score and AHEI were not associated with mortality. Among non-high grade serous cases, a higher post-diagnosis EDIP score was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR_{5th vs 1st quintile} = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.04-3.67, p-trend = 0.06). Compared to survivors consuming a low EDIP score diet before and after diagnosis, high post-diagnosis EDIP was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer specific mortality (pre-to-post diagnosis low/high, HR = 1.38, 95% CI = 0.99-1.92; high/high HR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.09-2.30) and all-cause mortality (low/high HR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.06-1.95; high/high HR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.10-2.19).

Conclusion: Consuming a more inflammatory dietary pattern post-diagnosis was associated with increased mortality in ovarian cancer survivors, suggesting limiting the inflammatory potential of diet post-diagnosis could lead to enhanced survivorship.