Fish consumption in relation to myocardial infarction, stroke and mortality among women and men with type 2 diabetes: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The accumulated evidence supports an inverse association of fish consumption with cardiovascular disease and mortality, but data among patients with type 2 diabetes are sparse. We aimed to assess fish consumption in relation to myocardial infarction (MI), stroke and mortality among individuals with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Women and men with diagnosed type 2 diabetes (n = 2225; aged 45–84 years) within two population-based cohorts (the Swedish Mammography Cohort and the Cohort of Swedish Men) were followed from 1998 through 2012. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: We identified 333 incident MI events, 321 incident stroke events and 771 deaths (154 with coronary heart disease [CHD] as underlying cause) during follow-up of up to 15 years. The multivariable HRs comparing >3 servings/week with ≤3 servings/month were 0.60 (95% CI, 0.39–0.92) for MI and 1.04 (95% CI, 0.66–1.64) for stroke. HRs for total mortality were lowest for moderate fish consumption of 1–<2 servings/week (0.82; 95% CI, 0.64–1.04) and 2–3 servings/week (0.79; 95% CI, 0.61–1.01) compared with ≤3 servings/month. The corresponding HRs for CHD-related mortality were 0.53; 95% CI, 0.32–0.90 and 0.75; 95% CI, 0.45–1.27. CONCLUSIONS: Fish consumption was associated with lower MI incidence among individuals with type 2 diabetes, whereas no association was observed with stroke. Our data further indicated an association with lower mortality, particularly for CHD-related deaths. These findings support the current general advice on regular fish consumption also in the high risk group of type 2 diabetes patients.