Dietary Inflammatory Index, Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010, Mediterranean Diet Score and the risk of pancreatic cancer

Nina Afshar; Allison M Hodge; Nitin Shivappa; James R Hébert; Graham G Giles; Dallas R English; Roger L Milne

doi:10.1016/j.canep.2022.102295

Dietary Inflammatory Index, Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010, Mediterranean Diet Score and the risk of pancreatic cancer

Cancer Epidemiol. 2023 Feb:82:102295. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2022.102295. Epub 2022 Nov 14.

Authors

Nina Afshar¹, Allison M Hodge², Nitin Shivappa³, James R Hébert³, Graham G Giles⁴, Dallas R English², Roger L Milne⁴

Affiliations

¹ Cancer Epidemiology Division, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia; Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie St, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia. Electronic address: Nina.Afshar@cancervic.org.au.
² Cancer Epidemiology Division, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia; Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie St, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia.
³ Cancer Prevention and Control Program and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA; Department of Nutrition, Connecting Health Innovations LLC, 1417 Gregg St., Columbia, SC 29201, USA.
⁴ Cancer Epidemiology Division, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia; Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie St, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia; Precision Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Monash University, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia.

PMID: 36395705
DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2022.102295

Abstract

Background: Previous studies of dietary patterns and pancreatic cancer risk have been inconclusive; we aimed to investigate the association of Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), and Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII®) with risk of pancreatic cancer.

Methods: We used data from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study including 33,690 men and women aged 40-69 years at recruitment in 1990-1994. A total of 258 incident cases of pancreatic cancer was identified over an average of 23.7 years of follow-up. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using Cox regression, with age as the underlying time metric, adjusting for potential confounders including sex, height, country of birth, education, socio-economic position, physical activity, energy intake, smoking status, pack-years smoking, years since quitting smoking, and alcohol intake.

Results: A healthier diet as assessed by the AHEI-2010 was associated with a lower risk of pancreatic cancer [HR_{Quartile4 vs Quartile1} = 0.58; 95%CI 0.40 - 0.85; p for trend 0.003]. Weaker but consistent evidence was observed for the other indexes [DII® HR_{Quartile4 vs Quartile1} = 1.30; 95%CI 0.82 - 2.06; p for trend 0.1], [MDS HR_{Category3 vs Category1} = 0.79; 95%CI 0.49 - 1.26; p for trend 0.06].

Conclusion: Adherence to a healthier diet, as assessed by the AHEI-2010, may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Keywords: Diet; Epidemiology; Inflammation; Pancreatic cancer; Prospective cohort.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cohort Studies
Diet
Diet, Healthy
Diet, Mediterranean*
Female
Humans
Male
Pancreatic Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Pancreatic Neoplasms* / etiology
Pancreatic Neoplasms* / prevention & control
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors