Plant-based diet may mitigate risk of death in CKD

Among people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), those who adhere to an overall plant-based diet and a healthy plant-based diet are at lower risk of all-cause mortality, whereas those who follow an unhealthy plant-based diet are at increased risk of CKD progression and all-cause mortality, according to a study.

The prospective cohort study included 2,539 participants with CKD. These participants completed the Diet History Questionnaire, and their responses were used to calculate scores for the overall plant-based diet index, healthy plant-based diet index, and unhealthy plant-based diet index.

The main outcomes of interest were (1) CKD progression (ie, ≥50-percent estimated glomerular filtration rate decline from baseline or kidney replacement therapy [dialysis, transplant]) and (2) all-cause mortality.

A total of 977 CKD progression events and 836 deaths occurred over a median follow-up of 7 and 12 years, respectively. Cox proportional hazards models showed that the risk of all-cause mortality was 21 percent to 26 percent lower among participants with the highest versus lowest adherence to overall plant-based diets (hazard ratio [HR], 0.74, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.62–0.88; p<0.001 for trend) and to healthy plant-based diets (HR, 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.66–0.95; p=0.03 for trend).

On the other hand, higher versus lower adherence to unhealthy plant-based diets had a modest association with a higher risk of CKD progression (each 10-point higher score: HR, 1.14, 95 percent CI, 1.03–1.25) and all-cause mortality (each 10-point higher score: HR, 1.11, 95 percent CI, 1.00–1.23).