Effect of dietary patterns on vascular aging using the brachial-ankle index

Abstract

The Mediterranean diet (MD) plays an important role in delaying vascular aging. The main objective of this study was to analyze the association between adherence to the MD and vascular aging estimated with brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) in a Spanish population sample and the differences by sex. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study. A total of 3437 subjects from the EVA, MARK and EVIDENT studies participated. The ba-PWV was assessed with the Vasera VS-1500® device. Vascular aging was classified as healthy vascular aging (HVA), normal vascular aging (NVA) and early vascular aging (EVA) and adherence to the MD was assessed with the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener questionnaire. Results: The mean age was 60.15 ± 9.55 (60.09 ± 9.71 in women; 60.20 ± 9.43 in men). Overall, MD adherence was observed in 48.0% of subjects (40% in women; 54% in men). The mean value of ba-PWV was 14.38 ± 2.71 (women 14.24 ± 2.89; men 14.49 ± 2.56). In multinomial logistic regression a positive association was found overall between HVA and NVA (OR = 1.751, 95% CI: 1.411–2.174, p < 0.001) and between HVA and EVA (OR = 1.501, 95% CI:1.295–1.740, p < 0.001); in women between HVA and NVA (OR = 2. 055, 95% CI:1.456–2.901, p < 0.001) and between HVA and EVA (OR = 1.413, 95% CI:1.124–1.776; p = 0.003); and in men between HVA and NVA (OR = 1.551, 95% CI: 1.175–2.047, p = 0.002) and between HVA and EVA (OR = 1.549, 95% CI: 1.275–1.882; p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results of this work indicate that greater adherence to the MD is associated with healthier vascular aging.