Dataset Information

Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y of follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Indexes of diet quality have been shown to be associated with decreased risk of mortality in several countries. It remains unclear if the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), designed to provide dietary guidelines to combat major chronic diseases, is related to mortality risk.

Objective

We aimed to examine the association between adherence to the AHEI and cause-specific mortality over 18 y of follow-up in a British working population.

Design

Analyses are based on 7319 participants (mean age: 49.5 y; range: 39-63 y; 30.3% women) from the Whitehall II Study. Cox proportional hazards regression models were performed to analyze associations of the AHEI (scored on the basis of intake of 9 components: vegetables, fruit, nuts and soy, white or red meat, trans fat, polyunsaturated or saturated fat, fiber, multivitamin use, and alcohol) with mortality risk.

Results

After potential confounders were controlled for, participants in the top compared with the bottom third of the AHEI score showed 25% lower all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR): 0.76; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.95] and >40% lower mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD; HR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.91). Consumption of nuts and soy and moderate alcohol intake appeared to be the most important independent contributors to decreased mortality risk. The AHEI was not associated with cancer mortality or noncancer/non-CVD mortality.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that the encouragement of adherence to the AHEI dietary recommendations constitutes a valid and clear public health recommendation that would decrease the risk of premature death from CVD.

SUBMITTER: Akbaraly TN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3127516 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y of follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort.

Akbaraly Tasnime N TN Ferrie Jane E JE Berr Claudine C Brunner Eric J EJ Head Jenny J Marmot Michael G MG Singh-Manoux Archana A Ritchie Karen K Shipley Martin J MJ Kivimaki Mika M

The American journal of clinical nutrition 20110525 1

<h4>Background</h4>Indexes of diet quality have been shown to be associated with decreased risk of mortality in several countries. It remains unclear if the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), designed to provide dietary guidelines to combat major chronic diseases, is related to mortality risk.<h4>Objective</h4>We aimed to examine the association between adherence to the AHEI and cause-specific mortality over 18 y of follow-up in a British working population.<h4>Design</h4>Analyses are base ...[more]

PMID: 21613557

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Project description:BACKGROUND: The estimation of healthy life years (HLY) by socio-economic status (SES) requires two types of data: the prevalence of activity limitation by SES generally extracted from surveys and mortality rates by SES generally derived from a linkage between the SES information in population databases (census, register) and mortality records. In some situations, no population-wide databases are available to produce mortality rates by SES, and therefore some alternatives must be explored. This paper assesses the validity of calculating HLY by SES using mortality rates derived from a linkage between surveys and mortality records. METHODS: TWO SURVEYS WERE CHOSEN TO EXPLORE THE VALIDITY OF THE PROPOSED APPROACH: The Belgian Health Interview Survey (HIS) and the Belgian Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). The mortality follow-up of these surveys were used to calculate HLY by educational level at age 25. These HLY were compared with HLY estimates calculated using the mortality follow-up of the 2001 census. The validity of this approach was evaluated against two criteria. First, the HLY calculated using the census and those calculated using the surveys must not be significantly different. Second, survey-based HLY must show significant social inequalities since such inequalities have been consistently reported with census-based HLY. RESULTS: Both criteria were met. First, for each educational category, no statistically significant difference was found when comparing census-based and survey-based HLY estimates. For instance, men in the lowest educational category have shown a HLY of 34 years according to the HIS, and while this figure was 35.5 years according to the census, this difference was not statistically significant. Second, the survey-based HLY have shown a significant social gradient. For instance, men in the highest educational category are expected to live 9.5 more HLY than their counterparts in the lowest educational category based on the HIS estimates, compared with 7.3 HLY based on the census estimates. CONCLUSIONS: This article suggests that using the mortality follow-up of a nationally representative cross-sectional survey is a valid approach to monitor social inequalities in HLY in the absence of population-wide data.

Dataset Information

Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y of follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort.

Background

Objective

Design

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y of follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort.

Similar Datasets

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