Dietary patterns and cardiovascular mortality in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Despite increased cardiovascular disease risk factors, migrants to Australia from Mediterranean countries have lower mortality than do native-born Australians. Dietary patterns may contribute to this. Objective: The objective was to investigate the relation between dietary patterns and mortality from cardiovascular (CVD) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) in an ethnically diverse population. Design: This was a prospective cohort study (mean follow-up: 10.4 y) of 40 653 volunteers (23 980 women) aged 40-69 y in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (1990-1994); 24% of the subjects were Mediterranean born. Results: Four dietary factors were identified from a food-frequency questio..