Association of Dietary Inflammatory Index with cardiovascular disease in Kurdish adults: results of a prospective study on Ravansar non-communicable diseases

BACKGROUND: Various diets and dietary compounds, through their inflammatory properties, are involved in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases including Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs). Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) can evaluate the inflammatory properties of diet. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between DII and CVDs in participants of the Ravansar Non-Communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort study, Kermanshah, Iran. MATERIALS: The present cross-sectional study was conducted using the recruitment phase data of the RaNCD cohort study on 6369 participants aged 35 to 65 years. The Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess diet. The DII scores were calculated using FFQ data. Participants with a history of myocardial infarction, stroke and coronary artery disease, and/or taking medications for the CVDs were considered as the CVDs patients. RESULTS: Of the 6369 studied participants, 9% (n = 579) had CVDs history. The mean DII score in this study was − 0.84 ± 1.6. Odds ratio (OR) of CVDs in women was 1.6 times higher than in men (CI 95% = 1.3–1.9), which this association was remained after adjusting for confounding variables (OR = 1.5, CI% = 1.2–1.9). The risk of CVDs in the fourth quartile of DII was 1.4 times higher than the first quartile of DII (OR: 1.4, CI 95% = 1.1–1.8). We found that higher adhere to DII was associated with risk of CVDs. CONCLUSION: According to current documents, given the role of diet through inflammatory properties on the risk of CVDs, it is recommended to use DII as an appropriate index to measure the effect of diet on CVDs in Iranian population. In addition, a diet with lower DII may be healthier diet for cardiovascular health.