Diet quality and carotid atherosclerosis in intermediate cardiovascular risk individuals

Background: Diet quality indices address the diet’s complexity and are calculated by a combination of foods and/ or nutrients which together represent a dietary pattern. The current study analysed the relationship between the common carotid artery intima media thickness (cIMT), the presence of plaque and the carotid target organ damage (cTOD) with the diet quality assessed through the Diet Quality Index (DQI) questionnaire in a Spanish adult population. Methods: A cross-sectional study. The target population comprised of 500 individuals aged between 35 to 74 years who had intermediate cardiovascular risk. The diet was evaluated by DQI which included beneficial and detrimental foods scored 3, 2 or 1. The total possible score ranges from 18 (the lowest quality) to 54 (the highest quality). Carotid ultrasound was used to assess the cIMT, the presence of plaque and the cTOD. Results: Among the 500 participants (mean age 60.3 ± 8.4 years), 54.4% were male. DQI mean was 40.08 ± 2.79, with no differences between men and women. The cIMT was lower in women (p = 0.002) and 16.6% of the participants presented plaque. No significant association was found between DQI and cIMT after adjusting by age and sex, and other confounders (p = 0.690). The logistic regression analysis showed no association of DQI with thickened cIMT (p = 0.890), the presence of plaques (p = 0.799) or cTOD (p = 0.942). Conclusions: The diet quality index was not associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in this Spanish population at intermediate risk of cardiovascular disease. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov; Identifier: NCT01428934.