Association of Dietary Preferences with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: Prospective Cohort Study of 1,160,312 Adults in China.

Wen Ru SHI; Si Tong WEI; Qing Mei HUANG; Huan CHEN; Dong SHEN; Bo Feng ZHU; Chen MAO

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Association of Dietary Preferences with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: Prospective Cohort Study of 1,160,312 Adults in China.

Author: Wen Ru SHI ¹ ; Si Tong WEI ¹ ; Qing Mei HUANG ² ; Huan CHEN ² ; Dong SHEN ² ; Bo Feng ZHU ³ ; Chen MAO ⁴
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1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China.
2. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, China.
3. Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Forensic Multi-Omics for Precision Identification, School of Forensic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, China.
4. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China;Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: All-cause mortality; CVD mortality; Cancer mortality; Cohort study; Dietary preference
MeSH: Humans; China/epidemiology*; Middle Aged; Male; Female; Prospective Studies; Aged; Cardiovascular Diseases/mortality*; Diet/statistics & numerical data*; Neoplasms/mortality*; Adult; Cause of Death; Food Preferences; Proportional Hazards Models; Mortality; Cohort Studies
From: Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2025;38(9):1120-1128
CountryChina
Language:English
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:Although dietary preferences influence chronic diseases, few studies have linked dietary preferences to mortality risk, particularly in large cohorts. To investigate the relationship between dietary preferences and mortality risk (all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease [CVD]) in a large adult cohort.
METHODS:A cohort of 1,160,312 adults (mean age 62.48 ± 9.55) from the Shenzhen Healthcare Big Data Cohort (SHBDC) was analyzed. Hazard ratios ( HRs) for mortality were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model.
RESULTS:The study identified 12,308 all-cause deaths, of which 3,865 (31.4%) were cancer-related and 3,576 (29.1%) were attributed to CVD. Compared with a mixed diet of meat and vegetables, a mainly meat-based diet (hazard ratio [ HR] = 1.13; 95% confidence interval [ CI]: 1.02, 1.27) associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality, while mainly vegetarian ( HR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.97) was linked to a reduced risk. Furthermore, there was a stronger correlation between mortality risk and dietary preference in the > 65 age range.
CONCLUSION:A meat-based diet was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, whereas a mainly vegetarian diet was linked to a reduced risk.