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© 2017 Rius-Ottenheim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background

Diet has been associated with better mental health in general populations, but less is known on this association in patients with a history of coronary heart disease.

The objective of this study is to examine the cross-sectional associations between dietary patterns and mental health in elderly patients with a history of myocardial infarction.

Methods

Data were drawn from the final assessment of the Alpha Omega cohort that monitored patients with a history of myocardial infarction (age range 60–80 years). 2171 patients with complete data for diet and mental health were included in this study. Diet was assessed with the 203-item Food Frequency Questionnaire, and subsequently categorized into two scores: the Dutch Healthy Nutrient and Food Score (DHNaFS) and the Dutch Undesirable Nutrient and Food Score (DUNaFS). Depressive symptoms, assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and dispositional optimism, assessed with the 4-item questionnaire (4Q), were cross-sectionally analyzed in relation to dietary patterns using linear regression analysis.

Results

Patients were on average 72.2 years old and 79.5% were male. The DHNaFS score was associated with less depressive symptoms and higher dispositional optimism (β = -0.108; P<0.001; and β = 0.074; P<0.001), whereas no associations were found with the DUNaFS score. Particularly, consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, and low fat-dairy were associated with less depressive symptoms and higher optimism. Similar associations were found when analyzing the association between average DHNaFS score over the preceding 41 months with depression β = -0.085; P<0.001) and higher dispositional optimism (β = 0.084; P<0.001).

Conclusions

A healthy dietary pattern, in particular a higher consumption of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish and low-fat dairy, was associated with less depressive symptoms and higher optimism. However, given the cross-sectional nature of our analyses, our findings may also be explained by more optimistic participants making healthier food choices. Therefore, future prospective or interventions studies are needed to establish the direction of causality of this association.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03192410.

Details

Title
Dietary patterns and mental health after myocardial infarction
Author
Rius-Ottenheim, Nathaly; Kromhout, Daan; Sijtsma, Femke P C; Geleijnse, Johanna M; Giltay, Erik J
First page
e0186368
Section
Research Article
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Oct 2017
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1951509986
Copyright
© 2017 Rius-Ottenheim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.