Abstract 11606: Association Between Poor Quality Diet and Stroke Amongst Cardiovascular Diseases in US Adult Population

Abstract

Background: Poor quality diet has been suggested to be related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, relationships between poor quality diet and types of CVD and mortality from CVD are still understudied. The aim of the study was to examine the association of diet quality and CVD. Method: Diet quality was measured by the total Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015 scores and HEI-2015 scores of the 13 individual food components based on the 1 st day 24-hour dietary recalls of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles between 1999 and 2020. HEI-2015 scores were calculated for 66,952 adults, including 6390 reported having CVD: heart failure, coronary heart disease, angina/angina pectoris, heart attack and stroke, and 1985 deceased with CVD as the underlying cause of death by 2019. Odds ratios of reporting CVD and hazard ratio of death from CVD using HEI-2015 score, sex, age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, education, marital status, body mass index, physical activities and income to poverty ratio as covariates were calculated. Results: Diet quality measured by HEI-2015 score of US population was significantly lower in adults with CVD than in adults without CVD, particularly in those with stroke. For those aged 18 to 44 years old with reported stroke (total HEI-2015 score 44.1, 95%CI 41.6-46.6), their consumptions of added sugar and saturated fat were significantly higher than those without CVD (total HEI-2015 score 48, 95%CI 47.6-48.4). For those aged 18 to 44 years old surveyed and deceased by 2019 with CVD as the underlying cause of death (total HEI-2015 score 43.2, 95%CI, 40.7-45.8), their consumption of added sugar was significantly higher than those still alive (total HEI-2015 score 48 95%CI 47.6-48.4). Risk of having stroke, as indicated by the odds ratios (0.98, 95%CI 0.98-0.99) was significantly lower in those with higher total HEI-2015 scores. Associations between diet and CVD of other age groups (45-64, >64 years old) are not as significant. Conclusions: There is an apparent association between poor quality diet and having CVD, particularly stroke. High consumptions of added sugar, refined grain, salt and saturated fat are the general contributors to the poor-quality diet in US adult population.