Authors:
D.B. Panagiotakos¹, C. Pitsavos², C. Chrysohoou², Y. Lentzas², K. Palliou², M. Kambaxis², C. Stefanadis³, ¹Harokopio University - Athens - Greece, ²Athens - Greece, ³Athens Medical School - Athens - Greece,

Objective: The 5-year incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in relation to dietary habits, among men and women from Greece, was evaluated.

Methods: From May 2001 to December 2002, 1514 men and 1528 women (>18 y) without any clinical evidence of CVD, living in Attica area, Greece, were enrolled in the ATTICA study. In 2006, a group of experts performed the 5-year follow-up (941 of the 3042 (31%) participants were lost to follow-up). Development of CVD (coronary heart disease, acute coronary syndromes, stroke, or other CVD) during the follow-up period was defined according to WHO-ICD-10 criteria. Principal Components Analysis was applied, and 15 dietary patterns were extracted (71% of total information explained) from 26 foods or food groups.

Results: The 5-year incidence of CVD was 11.0% in men and 6.1% in women (p < 0.001); the case fatality rate was 1.6%. Multi-adjusted analysis revealed that the dietary pattern that was defined by cereals, small fish, hardtack and olive oil intake was associated with 0.72 less likelihood of having a CVD (p<0.05), the pattern that was characterized by fruits and vegetables intake and olive oil use in daily cooking was associated with 0.80 less likelihood of having an event, while dietary patterns that were mainly characterized by sweets, red meat, margarine, salty nuts intake, hard cheese and increased alcohol intake, were associated with 26% to 32% higher likelihood of CVD (p<0.05).

Conclusions: Multivariate statistical methods revealed dietary patterns based on empirical epidemiologic data, which they were associated with the development of CVD.