Influence of Dietary Patterns and Inflammatory Markers on Atherosclerosis Using Ankle Brachial Index as a Surrogate

Objective To examine the influence of various dietary patterns on ankle-brachial index (ABI) as a surrogate of atherosclerosis, taking into account serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and factors that predispose to inflammation and/or endothelial damage (homocysteine) or may be protective (tryptophan, vitamin D), as well as age, gender, and lifestyle risk factors. Design Cross sectional analysis. Setting Cohort of 4000 men and women aged 65 years living in the community in Hong Kong SAR China. Measurements Interviewer administered questionnaire that includes dietary intake estimation by the food frequency records (from which various dietary patterns can be characterized), socioeconomic status, smoking habit, alcohol consumption, physical activity. Clinical measurements include body weight and height, and ankle-brachial index using hand-held Doppler machine. Laboratory measurements include assays of serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D, CRP, homocysteine, and tryptophan using LC/MC methods. Results Compared with the lowest quintile of vitamin D level, higher quintile was associated with lower prevalence of ABI