Eating behaviors and their relationship with cardiovascular disease. A case/case-control study.

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the combined role of eating behaviors and to investigate their effect on the likelihood of developing an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or an ischemic stroke. During 2009-2010, 1000 participants were enrolled; 250 consecutive patients with a first ACS (83% males, 60 ± 12 years) and 250 control subjects, as well as 250 consecutive patients with a first ischemic stroke (56% males, 77 ± 9 years) and 250 controls. The controls were population-based and age-sex matched with the patients. Detailed information regarding their anthropometric data, medical records and lifestyle characteristics (dietary and smoking habits, physical activity, psychological state and eating practices -using a special questionnaire-) were recorded. Five eating behaviors were selected to compose an eating behavior score for the purposes of this work: adherence to the Mediterranean diet (using the MedDietScore), frequency of breakfast consumption, eating while being stressed, eating while working and skipping meals. Eating behaviors with beneficial health effects were scored with 0, while those with negative effects were assigned score 1. The total range of the score was between 0 and 5. Higher scores reveal "unhealthier" eating practices. After controlling for potential confounding factors, each unit increase of the eating behavior score was associated with 70% (95% CI: 1.29-2.22) higher likelihood of developing an ACS. Insignificant associations were observed regarding ischemic stroke. The overall adoption of specific "unhealthy" eating practices seems to have a detrimental effect on cardiovascular health, and especially coronary heart disease.

Association between omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and risk of major cardiovascular disease events: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

CONTEXT: Considerable controversy exists regarding the association of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and major cardiovascular end points. OBJECTIVE: To assess the role of omega-3 supplementation on major cardiovascular outcomes. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials through August 2012. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized clinical trials evaluating the effect of omega-3 on all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, myocardial infarction, and stroke. DATA EXTRACTION: Descriptive and quantitative information was extracted; absolute and relative risk (RR) estimates were synthesized under a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q statistic and I2. Subgroup analyses were performed for the presence of blinding, the prevention settings, and patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, and meta-regression analyses were performed for the omega-3 dose. A statistical significance threshold of .0063 was assumed after adjustment for multiple comparisons. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of the 3635 citations retrieved, 20 studies of 68,680 patients were included, reporting 7044 deaths, 3993 cardiac deaths, 1150 sudden deaths, 1837 myocardial infarctions, and 1490 strokes. No statistically significant association was observed with all-cause mortality (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.02; risk reduction [RD] -0.004, 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.02), cardiac death (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85 to 0.98; RD, -0.01; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.00), sudden death (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.01; RD, -0.003; 95% CI, -0.012 to 0.006), myocardial infarction (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.04; RD, -0.002; 95% CI, -0.007 to 0.002), and stroke (RR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.18; RD, 0.001; 95% CI, -0.002 to 0.004) when all supplement studies were considered. CONCLUSION: Overall, omega-3 PUFA supplementation was not associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, myocardial infarction, or stroke based on relative and absolute measures of association.

Apolipoprotein B-to-A1 ratio as a predictor of acute ischemic nonembolic stroke in elderly subjects.

Among traditional cardiovascular risk factors, apolipoprotein (apo)B/apoA1 ratio is considered to have the strongest predictive value for ischemic stroke. Nevertheless, there are imsufficient data to support this ratio as an independent risk predictor of ischemic stroke in elderly individuals. In this case-control study, we evaluated apoB/apoA1 ratio as a predictor of ischemic stroke in a cohort of elderly subjects. A total of 163 patients aged>70 years (88 men) admitted due to a first-ever acute ischemic/nonembolic stroke and 166 volunteers (87 men) with no history of cardiovascular disease were included. The association between apoB/apoA1 ratio and stroke was determined by multivariate logistic regression modeling after adjusting for potential confounding factors, including lipid parameters. Stroke patients exhibited a higher apoB/apoA1 ratio than controls (1.04±0.33 vs 0.86±0.22; P<.001). In univariate analysis, crude odds ratio (OR) for apoB/apoA1 ratio was 1.27 per 0.1 increase (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.15-1.39; P<.001). Compared with subjects with an apoB/apoA1 ratio in the lowest quartile, those within the highest quartile had a 6.3-fold increase in the odds of suffering an ischemic stroke (95% CI=3.17-12.48; P<.001). This association remained significant after controlling for potential confounders, including sex, age, smoking status, body mass index, waist circumference, glucose and insulin levels, the presence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and lipid profile parameters (adjusted OR=3.02; 95% CI=1.16-7.83; P=.02). Our findings support elevated apoB/apoA1 ratio as an independent predictor of ischemic stroke in individuals over age 70.

Adherence to the mediterranean diet in relation to ischemic stroke nonfatal events in nonhypercholesterolemic and hypercholesterolemic participants: results of a case/case-control study.

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the development of ischemic stroke according to cholesterol levels. During 2009-2010, 500 participants were enrolled; 250 were consecutive patients (77 ± 9 years, 55.6% men) with a first ischemic stroke and 250 population-based, control participants, matched to the patients by age and sex. Sociodemographic, clinical, dietary, and other lifestyle characteristics were measured. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed by the validated MedDietScore (theoretical range: 0-55). After various adjustments, each 1/55 unit increase in the MedDietScore was associated with 17% lower likelihood of having an ischemic stroke in nonhypercholesterolemic participants (95%CI: 0.72-0.96) and 10% lower likelihood in participants with hypercholesterolemia (95%CI: 0.81-0.99). The present work highlights the cardioprotective benefits from the adoption of the Mediterranean diet, by showing its beneficial effect regarding ischemic stroke development, regardless of the presence of hypercholesterolemia.