The Association Between Dietary Diversity Score and Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Patients With Pemphigus Vulgaris: A Cross Sectional Study

This study was conducted to evaluate the associations between dietary diversity score (DDS) and cardiovascular risk factors in this population. In this cross-sectional study, 187 patients, aged 18–65 years with pemphigus vulgaris were included. DDS was assessed by a 24-hour dietary recall method. Anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters assessed according to standard protocols. Multivariate linear regression analyses used for detecting any associations between DDS and cardiovascular risk factors. The mean ± standard deviation age and body mass index of studied participants were (46.71 ± 11.49 years) and (27.83 ± 4.39 kg/m(2)) respectively. Our findings showed that a higher DDS intake was related with higher consumption of vegetables (p = 0.001), dairy products (p < 0.001), cereals (p = 0.002), red and processed meat (p < 0.001), sweets and desserts (p < 0.001). After controlling for confounding variables, the results showed positive associations between DDS and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, β = 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30–3.45, p = 0.02) and total cholesterol (TC) levels (β = 6.41, 95% CI, 1.62–11.03, p = 0.02) (β = 1.75, 95% CI, 0.20–3.30, p = 0.02). However, there were no associations between DDS and prevalence of obesity and glucose homeostasis. The results of this cross-sectional study showed that DDS might be associated with increased HDL-C and TC. However, further prospective studies are needed to prove these findings.