Dietary Inflammatory Score and Incident Heart Failure in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study.

Background: Inflammation plays a key role in the development of heart failure (HF), and diet is a known modifiable factor that modulates systemic inflammation. The dietary inflammatory score (DIS) is a tool that quantifies the inflammatory components of diet. We sought to determine whether the DIS is associated with incident HF events.

Methods: We examined a total of 17,975 participants without HF at baseline who were in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort. The main exposure variable was the DIS quartile, which was derived from the Food Frequency Questionnaire obtained at baseline study enrollment. The main outcome was an incident HF event, defined as hospitalization due to HF or death. To examine the association between the DIS and incident HF events, we conducted Cox proportional hazard regression modeling, adjusting for total energy intake, sociodemographic factors and pro-inflammatory lifestyle behaviors.

Results: The sample mean age was 64 + 9.2 years, 55.8% were female, and 32.3% were Black. Over a median follow-up of 11.1 years, we observed 900 incident HF events, including 752 hospitalizations and 148 deaths due to HF. In an adjusted model, the highest DIS quartile (Q4) was associated with incident HF (HR 1.26 95% CI 1.03-1.54). Of note, these findings remained, even after adjusting for comorbid conditions and physiological parameters. In an age-stratified analysis, the association was present only in those aged < 65 years (Q4: HR 1.65 95% CI 1.08-2.51). Moreover, the association was present for heart failure with reserved ejection fraction (Q4: HR 1.44 95% CI 1.07-1.94) but not for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Conclusion: The highest DIS quartile was associated with incident HF events. These findings indicate the potential value of specific dietary patterns to prevent HF.