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Nutrition and Health (including climate and ecological aspects)

Egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular events among Iranians: results from Isfahan Cohort Study (ICS)

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Abstract

Purpose

The association between egg consumption and cardiovascular events remains controversial. This study aims to evaluate this association in cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic coronary heart disease (ICHD), stroke, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and CVD mortality in an Iranian population.

Methods

This prospective cohort study included 6504 adults (age ≥ 35 years) with no history of CVD event at baseline. The frequency of egg consumption was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Participants were followed for 12 years and incidence of new CVD cases were determined through active examinations and linkages to multiple registries. Cox frailty models were conducted to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HR)s for cardiovascular events associated with egg consumption.

Results

Over a median follow-up of 12 years, fully adjusted model [adjusted for age, sex, education, residency, smoking, daily physical activity, family history of CVD, metabolic syndrome, aspirin, body mass index and Global Dietary Index] revealed a null association between egg and cardiovascular events. Compared with non-consumers (<1 time/week), higher egg consumption (≥3 time/week) was not associated with incident MI (HR = 1.44, 95% CI: 0.86, 2.41; P = 0.48), ICHD (HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 0.80, 1.99; P = 0.41), stroke (HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.46, 1.38; P = 0.71) and CVD (HR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.79, 1.40; P = 0.93).

Conclusion

These findings suggest that higher egg consumption is not associated with increased risk of MI, ICHD, stroke, and CVD among Iranians. Larger studies with longer duration of follow-up are warranted to explore these associations in populations with higher egg consumption.

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Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The baseline survey was supported by grant number 31309304. The Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, funded the biannual follow-ups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hypertension Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Noushin Mohammadifard

  2. Heart Failure Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Marzieh Taheri

  3. Cardiac Rehabilitation Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Fahimeh Haghighatdoost & Masoumeh Sadeghi

  4. Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Narges Grau & Nizal Sarrafzadegan

  5. Interventional Cardiology Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Jamshid Najafian

  6. Institute of Population Health Sciences, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Mohammad Talaei

Authors
  1. Noushin Mohammadifard
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  2. Marzieh Taheri
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  3. Fahimeh Haghighatdoost
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  4. Narges Grau
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  5. Jamshid Najafian
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  6. Masoumeh Sadeghi
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  7. Mohammad Talaei
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  8. Nizal Sarrafzadegan
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Contributions

NM, MT, JN, MS and NS contributed to study concepts and design, and data collection. NM, MT, and FH contributed to statistical analysis; FH and MT contributed to data interpretation and manuscript drafting; NG contributed to manuscript drafting and revisions; NM and NS supervised the study. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. None of the authors had any personal or financial conflicts of interest.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fahimeh Haghighatdoost.

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Mohammadifard, N., Taheri, M., Haghighatdoost, F. et al. Egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular events among Iranians: results from Isfahan Cohort Study (ICS). Eur J Clin Nutr 76, 1409–1414 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-022-01118-1

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