Comparison of the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approach Stop Hypertension in reducing the risk of 10-year fatal and non-fatal CVD events in healthy adults: The ATTICA Study (2002-2012)

Abstract

Objective: To compare the Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets in deterring 10-year CVD.

Design: Prospective cohort (n 2020) with a 10-year follow-up period for the occurrence of combined (fatal or non-fatal) CVD incidence (International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10). Baseline adherence to the Mediterranean and DASH diets was assessed via a semi-quantitative FFQ according to the MedDietScore and DASH scores, respectively.

Setting: Attica, Greece.

Participants: Two thousand twenty individuals (mean age at baseline 45.2 (sd 14.0) years).

Results: One-third of individuals in the lowest quartile of Mediterranean diet consumption, as compared with 3.1 % of those in the highest quartile, developed 10-year CVD (P < 0.0001). In contrast, individuals in the lowest and highest DASH diet quartiles exhibited similar 10-year CVD rates (n (%) of 10-year CVD in DASH diet quartiles 1 v. 4: 79 (14.7 %) v. 75 (15.3 %); P = 0.842). Following adjustment for demographic, lifestyle and clinical confounding factors, those in the highest Mediterranean diet quartile had a 4-fold reduced 10-year CVD risk (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 4.52, 95 % CI 1.76, 11.63). However, individuals with highest DASH diet quartile scores did not differ from their lowest quartile counterparts in developing such events (adjusted HR 1.05, 95 % CI 0.69, 1.60).

Conclusions: High adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and not to the DASH diet, was associated with a lower risk of 10-year fatal and non-fatal CVD. Therefore, public health interventions aimed at enhancing adherence to the Mediterranean diet, rather than the DASH diet, may most effectively deter long-term CVD outcomes particularly in Mediterranean populations.