Diet Quality in Association with All-Cause, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality Among US Adults: NHANES 1999–2010 (OR14-04-19)

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommend a healthy eating pattern for chronic disease prevention. This study aimed to prospectively evaluate diet quality by adherence to the 2015 DGA in association with mortality outcomes among a representative sample of US adults. Using dietary data collected by 24-hour diet recalls among 29,098 US adults aged 20+ years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 to 2010, we estimated adherence to the 2015 DGA using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015). Mortality from all cause, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and cancer were obtained from linkage to the National Death Index Mortality data. Cox proportional-hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after multivariable adjustments. The mean (SE) of total HEI-2015 was 50.1 (0.2). During a median follow-up of 6.2 years, 2861 total deaths occurred, including 726 CVD and 671 cancer deaths. Compared to individuals in the lowest quartile of HEI-2015, those in the highest quartile had a 16% lower risk of all-cause mortality (Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.84; 95% CI: 0.72–0.90; P-trend = 0.04) and a 31% lower risk of cancer mortality (Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.69; 95% CI: 0.50–0.95; P-trend = 0.06). The lower all-cause and cancer mortality among those with higher HEI-2015 scores was confined to individuals with comorbidity conditions at baseline (all-cause mortality: Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.67–0.94; p-trend = 0.005; cancer mortality: Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.30–0.69; p-trend = 0.001), former smokers (all-cause mortality: Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.65; 95% CI: 0.49–0.88; p-trend = 0.006; cancer mortality: Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.29–0.74; p-trend = 0.005), and those with a body mass index of 18.5–25 kg/m2 (all-cause mortality: Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.46–0.79; p-trend < 0.001; cancer mortality: Q4 vs. Q1: HR = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.22–0.70; p-trend = 0.001). Similar associations were found between men and women. No significant associations were observed between HEI-2015 and CVD mortality. Better adherence to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines of Americans is associated with lower all-cause and cancer mortality among US adults. National Institute of Health/National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities.