Mediterranean diet and heart rate: The PREDIMED randomised trial

Abstract

A higher heart rate (HR) has been associated with increased total and cardiovascular mortality [ 1 Greenland P. Daviglus M.L. Dyer A.R. et al. Resting heart rate is a risk factor for cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality: the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry. Am J Epidemiol. 1999; 149: 853-862 Crossref PubMed Scopus (277) Google Scholar , 2 Jensen M.T. Marott J.L. Jensen G.B. Elevated resting heart rate is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in current and former smokers. Int J Cardiol. 2011; 151: 148-154 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (41) Google Scholar ]. Clinical trials support the beneficial effect of decreasing HR in patients with heart failure [ [3] Fox K. Ford I. Steg P.G. Tendera M. Ferrari R. Ivabradine for patients with stable coronary artery disease and left-ventricular systolic dysfunction (BEAUTIFUL): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2008; 372: 807-816 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (903) Google Scholar ] and ischaemic heart disease [ [4] Ekman I. Chassany O. Komajda M. et al. Heart rate reduction with ivabradine and health related quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure: results from the SHIFT study. Eur Heart J. 2011; 32: 2395-2404 Crossref PubMed Scopus (163) Google Scholar ]. A recent cross-sectional study showed that closer adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeDiet) was related to lower HR [ [5] García-López M. Martinez-Gonzalez M.A. Basterra-Gortari F.J. Barrio-López M.T. Gea A. Beunza J.J. Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern and heart rate in the SUN project. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Nov 9 2012; ([Epub ahead of print]) PubMed Google Scholar ]. We evaluated the association between adherence to the MeDiet (measured with a score from 0 to 14 obtained by a validated screener [ [6] Schröder H. Fitó M. Estruch R. et al. A short screener is valid for assessing Mediterranean diet adherence among older Spanish men and women. J Nutr. 2011; 141: 1140-1145 Crossref PubMed Scopus (733) Google Scholar ]) and HR using both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal analysis of the PREDIMED trial [ 7 Estruch R. Ros E. Salas-Salvado J. et al. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet. N Engl J Med. 2013; 368: 1279-1290 Crossref PubMed Scopus (3165) Google Scholar , 8 Martínez-González M.Á. Corella D. Salas-Salvadó J. et al. Cohort profile: design and methods of the PREDIMED study. Int J Epidemiol. 2012; 41: 377-385 Crossref PubMed Scopus (375) Google Scholar ].