Dietary Inflammatory Index Is Related to Heart Failure Risk and Cardiac Function: A Case-Control Study in Heart Failure Patients.

Previous studies suggest that diet and inflammation are important risk factors for heart failure (HF); however, the associations remain unclear. The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) was established to measure the inflammatory capacity of individuals' diet. This study aimed to explore the DII in HF subjects compared with controls. We conducted a case-control (116 cases and 113 controls) study that recruited in the similar clinics. DII scores were calculated based on dietary intakes. N-Terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and ejection fraction (EF) were assessed in both groups. In order to analyze DII scores with HF as the outcome, we used conditional logistic regression. A linear regression was applied to explore the associations between the DII and left ventricular EF (LVEF). There was statistically significant difference in DII scores in cases vs. controls (-0.16 ± 1.37 vs. -0.33 ± 1.67; = 0.040). Conditional logistic regression has shown that subjects with higher DII scores had higher risk of HF. For every one-point rise in DII score, the odds of having HF increased by 30% (OR: 1.30; CI: 1.03, 1.69; = 0.047). The EF was inversely associated with saturated fatty acid (β = -0.34, 95% CI: -0.61, -0.07; = 0.012). Subjects with higher DII scores had higher NT-proBNP levels and had lower EF. The DII score was associated with high probability of HF. It appears that consumption of anti-inflammatory diet may lead to the prevention of HF and therefore suggests that dietary modification with the goal of reducing DII scores could be a valuable strategy for improving clinical outcomes in these patients.