Abstract 4805: Index-based dietary patterns and risk of esophageal cancer and gastric cancer in the NIH-AARP diet and health study.

Abstract

Abstract Background Diet may affect esophageal and gastric cancer risk, but associations have been inconsistent. Due to the complexity of the diet, studies of dietary patterns may elucidate the associations between diet and cancer better than studies of individual foods. Yet, studies evaluating the association between index-based dietary patterns and incident esophageal and gastric cancers have been sparse. Objectives We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association between two diet quality indices, the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005) and the alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMED), and risk of esophageal and gastric cancers in the United States. Methods In sum, 494,968 participants from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health study completed a self-administered baseline food frequency questionnaire which was used to estimate scores for each index. Results During the follow-up (1995-2006), we documented 215 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC), 633 esophageal adenocarcinomas (EAC), 453 gastric cardia adenocarcinomas, and 501 gastric noncardia adenocarcinomas. Higher scores in the HEI-2005, reflecting healthy eating patterns, were associated with a reduced risk of ESCC (the highest quintile compared to lowest: hazard ratio (HR) =0.51, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.31-0.86, Ptrend =0.001), and EAC (HR=0.75, 95% CI: 0.57-0.98, Ptrend=0.01). We observed an inverse association of ESCC with higher diet quality as assessed by aMED, but not for EAC. No significant associations for gastric cardia or noncardia adenocarcinomas were found with either HEI-2005 or aMED. Conclusions In this prospective study, the HEI-2005 was inversely associated with risk of both ESCC and EAC, while the aMED was associated with reduced risk of ESCC, suggesting that adherence to dietary recommendations may help prevent esophageal cancer. Citation Format: Wen-qing Li, Yikyung Park, Jennifer W. Wu, Jian-song Ren, Alisa M. Goldstein, Philip R. Taylor, Albert R. Hollenbeck, Neal D. Freedman, Christian C. Abnet. Index-based dietary patterns and risk of esophageal cancer and gastric cancer in the NIH-AARP diet and health study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4805. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4805