Hu Peipei, Lee Eric Kam-Pui, Li Qian, Tam Lai-Shan, Wong Samuel Yeung-Shan, Poon Paul Kwok-Ming, Yip Benjamin Hon-Kei
Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, China.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2025 May 7. doi: 10.1038/s41430-025-01628-8.
Although the Mediterranean diet (MD) has beneficial effects on heart health, cognitive function, cancer, and other chronic diseases, little is known about its effect on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study aimed to examine the association between adherence to MD and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis RA.
We conducted a cohort study and a systematic review. A total of 117,341 RA-free participants from the UK Biobank were included in 2006-2010 and followed for incident RA until 2021. The MEDI-LITE score was calculated using the consumption of nine food components to estimate adherence to MD. We examined the associations between the MEDI-LITE score and the risk of RA using the Cox proportional hazard model. Relevant studies for the systematic review were identified through six databases. We performed a meta-analysis to pool the effect estimates from our cohort study and identified relevant studies.
During a median follow-up of 9.42 years, 773 participants developed RA. Compared with the bottom quartile of the MEDI-LITE score, the risk of RA was lower in the highest quartile (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.713, 95% CI = 0.580 to 0.876). Six studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for the highest versus lowest adherence to MD and the risk of RA was 0.838 (95% CI = 0.758 to 0.926).
Higher adherence to MD was associated with a lower risk of RA. Our finding provides updated evidence on the importance of diet in RA development and novel directions for RA prevention.
尽管地中海饮食（MD）对心脏健康、认知功能、癌症及其他慢性疾病具有有益影响，但关于其对类风湿关节炎（RA）的影响却知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨坚持地中海饮食与患类风湿关节炎风险之间的关联。
我们进行了一项队列研究和一项系统评价。2006年至2010年，英国生物银行共纳入了117,341名无类风湿关节炎的参与者，并对其进行随访，直至2021年观察类风湿关节炎发病情况。通过九种食物成分的摄入量计算MEDI-LITE评分，以评估对地中海饮食的依从性。我们使用Cox比例风险模型研究MEDI-LITE评分与类风湿关节炎风险之间的关联。通过六个数据库识别系统评价的相关研究。我们进行了荟萃分析，以汇总队列研究和已识别相关研究的效应估计值。
在中位随访9.42年期间，773名参与者患上了类风湿关节炎。与MEDI-LITE评分最低的四分位数相比，最高四分位数的类风湿关节炎风险较低（调整后风险比（HR）=0.713，95%置信区间（CI）=0.580至0.876）。荟萃分析纳入了六项研究。最高与最低地中海饮食依从性与类风湿关节炎风险的合并比值比（OR）为0.838（95%CI=0.758至0.926）。
更高的地中海饮食依从性与较低的类风湿关节炎风险相关。我们的研究结果为饮食在类风湿关节炎发病中的重要性提供了最新证据，并为类风湿关节炎的预防提供了新方向。
