Mediterranean diet may brighten outlook in polyvascular atherosclerotic disease

Adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern among polyvascular atherosclerotic disease (PAD) patients leads to improvements in inflammatory and metabolic status, which may potentially translate into better long-term cardiovascular outcomes, according to a study.

Researchers looked at 107 patients with PAD, which was defined as the simultaneous involvement of at least two vascular districts. They estimated adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) using a nine-item simplified form of the Mediterranean Diet Score.

Compared with those in the low-adherence group, patients in the high-adherence group exhibited more favourable fasting glycaemic levels (p<0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration (p=0.0049).

Moreover, the high-adherence group had markedly lower C-reactive protein (p=0.0045) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (p=0.008).

Over a mean follow-up of 34 months, fatal events occurred exclusively in the low-adherence group (58 percent). The corresponding event-free survival was 37 percent as opposed to 87 percent in the moderate-adherence group and 70 percent in the high-adherence group (p<0.001).

A multivariable Cox regression model controlled for atherosclerotic risk factors confirmed that poor adherence to the MD was associated with a 12-fold higher incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (hazard ratio, 12.23, 95 percent confidence interval, 4.00–37.39).

The findings provide evidence regarding the potential of MD as a secondary preventive tool in the present high-risk population.