Dietary Patterns and Mortality in a Multinational Cohort of Adults Receiving Hemodialysis.

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Clinical practice guidelines for dietary intake in hemodialysis focus on individual nutrients. Little is known about associations of dietary patterns with survival. We evaluated the associations of dietary patterns with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among adults treated by hemodialysis. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: 8,110 of 9,757 consecutive adults on hemodialysis (January 2014 to June 2017) treated in a multinational private dialysis network and with analyzable dietary data. EXPOSURES: Data-driven dietary patterns based on the GA2LEN food frequency questionnaire. Participants received a score for each identified pattern, with higher scores indicating closer resemblance of their diet to the identified pattern. Quartiles of standardized pattern scores were used as primary exposures. OUTCOMES: Cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. ANALYTICAL APPROACH: Principal components analysis with varimax rotation to identify common dietary patterns. Adjusted proportional hazards regression analyses with country as a random effect to estimate the associations between dietary pattern scores and mortality. Associations were expressed as adjusted HRs with 95% CIs, using the lowest quartile score as reference. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 2.7 years (18,666 person-years), there were 2,087 deaths (958 cardiovascular). 2 dietary patterns, "fruit and vegetable" and "Western," were identified. For the fruit and vegetable dietary pattern score, adjusted HRs, in ascending quartiles, were 0.94 (95% CI, 0.76-1.15), 0.83 (95% CI, 0.66-1.06), and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.69-1.21) for cardiovascular mortality and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.83-1.09), 0.84 (95% CI, 0.71-0.99), and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.72-1.05) for all-cause mortality. For the Western dietary pattern score, the corresponding estimates were 1.10 (95% CI, 0.90-1.35), 1.11 (95% CI, 0.87-1.41), and 1.09 (95% CI, 0.80-1.49) for cardiovascular mortality and 1.01 (95% CI, 0.88-1.16), 1.00 (95% CI, 0.85-1.18), and 1.14 (95% CI, 0.93-1.41) for all-cause mortality. LIMITATIONS: Self-reported food frequency questionnaire, data-driven approach. CONCLUSIONS: These findings did not confirm an association between mortality among patients receiving long-term hemodialysis and the extent to which dietary patterns were either high in fruit and vegetables or consistent with a Western diet.

Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality in Adults undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Higher fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the general population. It is unclear whether this association occurs in patients on hemodialysis, in whom high fruit and vegetable intake is generally discouraged because of a potential risk of hyperkalemia. We aimed to evaluate the association between fruit and vegetable intake and mortality in hemodialysis. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Fruit and vegetable intake was ascertained by the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network food frequency questionnaire within the Dietary Intake, Death and Hospitalization in Adults with ESKD Treated with Hemodialysis study, a multinational cohort study of 9757 adults on hemodialysis, of whom 8078 (83%) had analyzable dietary data. Adjusted Cox regression analyses clustered by country were conducted to evaluate the association between tertiles of fruit and vegetable intake with all-cause, cardiovascular, and noncardiovascular mortality. Estimates were calculated as hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). RESULTS: During a median follow up of 2.7 years (18,586 person-years), there were 2082 deaths (954 cardiovascular). The median (interquartile range) number of servings of fruit and vegetables was 8 (4-14) per week; only 4% of the study population consumed at least four servings per day as recommended in the general population. Compared with the lowest tertile of servings per week (0-5.5, median 2), the adjusted hazard ratios for the middle (5.6-10, median 8) and highest (>10, median 17) tertiles were 0.90 (95% CI, 0.81 to 1.00) and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.91) for all-cause mortality, 0.88 (95% CI, 0.76 to 1.02) and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.66 to 0.91) for noncardiovascular mortality and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.81 to 1.11) and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.70 to 1.00) for cardiovascular mortality, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Fruit and vegetable intake in the hemodialysis population is low and a higher consumption is associated with lower all-cause and noncardiovascular death.

Dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in adults on hemodialysis: The DIET-HD multinational cohort study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Patients on hemodialysis suffer from high risk of premature death, which is largely attributed to cardiovascular disease, but interventions targeting traditional cardiovascular risk factors have made little or no difference. Long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) are putative candidates to reduce cardiovascular disease. Diets rich in n-3 PUFA are recommended in the general population, although their role in the hemodialysis setting is uncertain. We evaluated the association between the dietary intake of n-3 PUFA and mortality for hemodialysis patients. METHODS: The DIET-HD study is a prospective cohort study (January 2014-June 2017) in 9757 adults treated with hemodialysis in Europe and South America. Dietary n-3 PUFA intake was measured at baseline using the GA2LEN Food Frequency Questionnaire. Adjusted Cox regression analyses clustered by country were conducted to evaluate the association of dietary n-3 PUFA intake with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: During a median follow up of 2.7 years (18,666 person-years), 2087 deaths were recorded, including 829 attributable to cardiovascular causes. One third of the study participants consumed sufficient (at least 1.75 g/week) n-3 PUFA recommended for primary cardiovascular prevention, and less than 10% recommended for secondary prevention (7-14 g/week). Compared to patients with the lowest tertile of dietary n-3 PUFA intake (<0.37 g/week), the adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for cardiovascular mortality for patients in the middle (0.37 to <1.8 g/week) and highest (≥1.8 g/week) tertiles of n-3 PUFA were 0.82 (0.69-0.98) and 1.03 (0.84-1.26), respectively. Corresponding adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 0.96 (0.86-1.08) and 1.00 (0.88-1.13), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary n-3 PUFA intake was not associated with cardiovascular or all-cause mortality in patients on hemodialysis. As dietary n-3 PUFA intake was low, the possibility that n-3 PUFA supplementation might mitigate cardiovascular risk has not been excluded.

The Association of Mediterranean and DASH Diets with Mortality in Adults on Hemodialysis: The DIET-HD Multinational Cohort Study.

Background Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets associate with lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the general population, but the benefits for patients on hemodialysis are uncertain.Methods Mediterranean and DASH diet scores were derived from the GA2LEN Food Frequency Questionnaire within the DIET-HD Study, a multinational cohort study of 9757 adults on hemodialysis. We conducted adjusted Cox regression analyses clustered by country to evaluate the association between diet score tertiles and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (the lowest tertile was the reference category).Results During the median 2.7-year follow-up, 2087 deaths (829 cardiovascular deaths) occurred. The adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the middle and highest Mediterranean diet score tertiles were 1.20 (1.01 to 1.41) and 1.14 (0.90 to 1.43), respectively, for cardiovascular mortality and 1.10 (0.99 to 1.22) and 1.01 (0.88 to 1.17), respectively, for all-cause mortality. Corresponding estimates for the same DASH diet score tertiles were 1.01 (0.85 to 1.21) and 1.19 (0.99 to 1.43), respectively, for cardiovascular mortality and 1.03 (0.92 to 1.15) and 1.00 (0.89 to 1.12), respectively, for all-cause mortality. The association between DASH diet score and all-cause death was modified by age (P=0.03); adjusted hazard ratios for the middle and highest DASH diet score tertiles were 1.02 (0.81 to 1.29) and 0.70 (0.53 to 0.94), respectively, for younger patients (≤60 years old) and 1.05 (0.93 to 1.19) and 1.08 (0.95 to 1.23), respectively, for older patients.Conclusions Mediterranean and DASH diets did not associate with cardiovascular or total mortality in hemodialysis.

Nutrition and dietary intake and their association with mortality and hospitalisation in adults with chronic kidney disease treated with haemodialysis: protocol for DIET-HD, a prospective multinational cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Adults with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) treated with haemodialysis experience mortality of between 15% and 20% each year. Effective interventions that improve health outcomes for long-term dialysis patients remain unproven. Novel and testable determinants of health in dialysis are needed. Nutrition and dietary patterns are potential factors influencing health in other health settings that warrant exploration in multinational studies in men and women treated with dialysis. We report the protocol of the "DIETary intake, death and hospitalisation in adults with end-stage kidney disease treated with HaemoDialysis (DIET-HD) study," a multinational prospective cohort study. DIET-HD will describe associations of nutrition and dietary patterns with major health outcomes for adults treated with dialysis in several countries. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: DIET-HD will recruit approximately 10,000 adults who have ESKD treated by clinics administered by a single dialysis provider in Argentina, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. Recruitment will take place between March 2014 and June 2015. The study has currently recruited 8000 participants who have completed baseline data. Nutritional intake and dietary patterns will be measured using the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA(2)LEN) food frequency questionnaire. The primary dietary exposures will be n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption. The primary outcome will be cardiovascular mortality and secondary outcomes will be all-cause mortality, infection-related mortality and hospitalisation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study is approved by the relevant Ethics Committees in participating countries. All participants will provide written informed consent and be free to withdraw their data at any time. The findings of the study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations and to participants via regular newsletters. We expect that the DIET-HD study will inform large pragmatic trials of nutrition or dietary interventions in the setting of advanced kidney disease.