Prospective study of the association of diet quality and cardiometabolic health of breast cancer survivors

Compared with the general population, breast cancer (BC) survivors experience higher rates of cardiometabolic condition. The association of healthy eating with these conditions among BC survivors is not clear. Analysis among 3415 BC survivors in the multicenter prospective Pathways Study in the USA found that over an average of 11.5 years of follow-up, 16.2% of particpants developed hypertension, 10.6% developed diabetes, and 19.1% developed dyslipidemia. Participants with eating patterns at diagnosis more concordant with the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) had lower risk of cardiometabolic conditions: highest versus lowest HEI quartile HR 0.70 (95% CI 0.54-0.91) for any cardiometabolic condition; 0.71 (0.54-0.94) for hypertension; 0.57 (0.41-0.79) for diabetes; and 0.77 (0.59-0.99) for dyslipidemia. Similar associations were observed for other diet quality indices with risk of diabetes. The authors conclude that healthier diets at BC diagnosis were associated with associated with lower cardiometabolic risk.