Table 3.
Plant- and Animal-Based Diet Quality and All-Cause, Heart Disease, Cancer, and Other Mortality Among US Adults, NHANES 1999-2014
| Person-Years | All-Cause Mortality | Heart Disease Mortality | Cancer Mortality | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||||||
| N | HR (95% CI)1 | N | HR (95% CI)1 | N | HR (95% CI)1 | ||
| Comprehensive Diet Quality Index (cDQI) 2 | |||||||
| Q1 (male:<37.0; female:<40.8) | 78959 | 906 | Ref | 134 | Ref | 206 | Ref |
| Q2 (male: 37.0-40.7; female: 40.8-44.9) | 77336 | 1200 | 0.91 (0.81, 1.03) | 198 | 1.05 (0.74, 1.50) | 273 | 1.05 (0.87, 1.27) |
| Q3 (male:40.8-45.0; female: 45.0-49.4) | 72943 | 1351 | 0.83 (0.74, 0.95) | 237 | 1.03 (0.73, 1.45) | 289 | 0.92 (0.70, 1.23) |
| Q4 (male: ≥45.1; female: ≥49.5). | 65075 | 1212 | 0.75 (0.65, 0.86) | 229 | 1.05 (0.72, 1.53) | 253 | 0.88 (0.66, 1.18) |
| P-trend<0.001 | P-trend=0.82 | P-trend=0.29 | |||||
| Plant-Based Diet Quality Index (pDQI) 2 | |||||||
| Q1 (male:<22.4; female:<24.3) | 80595 | 690 | Ref | 94 | Ref | 155 | Ref |
| Q2 (male: 22.4-25.7; female: 24.3-28.0) | 76709 | 1049 | 0.78 (0.69, 0.89) | 165 | 0.85 (0.59, 1.22) | 245 | 0.97 (0.71, 1.33) |
| Q3 (male: 25.8-29.6; female: 28.1-32.1) | 72215 | 1502 | 0.82 (0.73, 0.94) | 279 | 1.11 (0.78, 1.60) | 325 | 0.99 (0.74, 1.33) |
| Q4 (male: ≥29.7; female: ≥32.2) | 64795 | 1428 | 0.66 (0.58, 0.74) | 260 | 0.95 (0.67, 1.35) | 296 | 0.80 (0.59, 1.10) |
| P-trend<0.001 | P-trend=0.80 | P-trend=0.12 | |||||
| Animal-Based Diet Quality Index (aDQI) 2 | |||||||
| Q1 (male:<13.1; female:<15.0) | 72069 | 1513 | Ref | 275 | Ref | 319 | Ref |
| Q2 (male: 13.1-14.9; female: 15.0-16.9) | 74897 | 1321 | 1.01 (0.92, 1.12) | 219 | 1.01 (0.74, 1.39) | 310 | 1.04 (0.83, 1.29) |
| Q3 (male: 15.0-17.0; female: 17.0-18.8) | 75050 | 1085 | 1.04 (0.92, 1.18) | 182 | 1.02 (0.78, 1.32) | 234 | 1.02 (0.77, 1.35) |
| Q4 (male: ≥17.1; female: ≥18.9). | 72298 | 750 | 0.99 (0.87, 1.13) | 122 | 0.93 (0.65, 1.31) | 158 | 1.02 (0.78, 1.33) |
| P-trend=0.81 | P-trend=0.78 | P-trend=0.90 | |||||
Abbreviations: NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; HR, hazard ratio; CI, confident intervals; cDQI, comprehensive Diet Quality Index; pDQI, plant-based Diet Quality Index; aDQI, animal-based Diet Quality Index.
Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the associations between diet quality indices and mortality. HRs and 95% CIs were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, total energy intake, physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, BMI, comorbidities and accounted for NHANES survey weights. pDQI and aDQI were simultaneously adjusted in the same model.
The median scores in each quartile of cDQI were 33.8, 38.8, 43.0, and 48.9 among males and 37.4, 43.0, 47.6, and 53.5 among females; the median scores in each quartile of pDQI were 20.3, 24.1, 27.6, and 32.7 among males and 21.8, 26.2, 30.0, and 35.2 among females; and the median scores in each quartile of aDQI were 11.4, 14.0, 16.0, and 18.4 among males and 13.6, 16.1, 18.0, and 20.5 among females.