Study design
This is a cross-sectional study. We use the baseline data of Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease (RaNCD) cohort study to conduct this study. RaNCD cohort is a part of Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IRAN (PERSIAN) conducted on various ethnicities of Iranian population in coordination with Ministry of Health and Medical Education in which 10,000 adults were recruited for RaNCD. Ravansar is one of the cities of Kermanshah province. 30% of Ravansar population is the 35–65 years old both in rural and urban areas, mainly from Iranian Kurdish ethnicity. Further details of the RaNCD study have already been published [13, 14].
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Eligibility criteria in the cohort study comprised being in the age range of 35–65 years, permanent inhabiting the Ravansar region (Ravansar town and all villages in its vicinity), having Iranian nationality. For the purpose of this study, participants with renal failure and kidney stones (n = 1357), cancer (n = 93) liver disease (n = 817), thyroid disease (n = 727) and inflammatory diseases (n = 310), pregnant women (n = 88) and those with missed information (n = 304) were not included to this study. Finally, out of 10,065 participants in RaNCD cohort study, 6369 persons (3223 men and 3146 women) were included.
Data collection and measurement
Data collection and all measurements were conducted and assessed in the RaNCD cohort site. Invitation method had done through a face-to-face appointment via visiting the potential participant at home [14].
The wealth index was measured, using 15 items (including housing, car, washing machine, dishwasher, Freezer, computer, internet access, motorcycle, car rental, car type, vacuum cleaner,color TV, TV type, bathroom, cell phone) by principal component analysis (PCA) method then wealth index was categorized into five groups, from the poorest to the richest [15].
The non-smoker was defined people who reported they had not smoked. Current smokers were people who reported they had smoked at least 100 cigarettes and former smokers were those who had quit with a history of smoking at least 100 cigarettes during their lifetime [16].
The Physical Activity Questionnaire is a standardized cohort study questionnaire based on met/hour per day [17].
The standardized 137-item 1-year food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) [14] of PERSIAN cohort study was completed to evaluate the diet. Frequency of consumption and size of common share were considered for each food item. Updated dietary databases were used to calculate the amount of nutrient intake [14, 18]. The FFQ was used to calculate DII. The method for calculation of DII has been described in various reports [2, 19]. The DII was suggested by reviewing articles published between 1950 and 2010 on the association between a variety of dietary parameters and 6 inflammatory markers (IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, CRP and TNF-α). Accordingly, 45 dietary parameters, including macronutrients, micronutrients, flavonoids and other food items, have been identified that can have inflammatory effects. The inflammatory potential of each parameter was assessed by their effect on increasing, decreasing or not affecting the levels of these inflammatory markers. If each of these food items increased the levels of inflammatory markers, they would score + 1, if they decreased the levels of inflammatory markers, they would score − 1, and if they had no effect on the levels of inflammatory markers, they would receive an inflammatory score of 0. The DII score can range between − 8.87 (the highest anti-inflammatory score) and + 7.98 (the highest pro-inflammatory score). On the basis of mean intake and global standard deviation, Zscore was determined for each parameter. Then, the Z-score became a percentile. The inflammatory score for each of the dietary parameters was calculated by this manner, and then the inflammatory score of all parameters was summed to calculate the total DII score. The more negative the DII score, the more powerful anti-inflammatory property and the more positive values, the more powerful pro-inflammatory characteristics [8, 20].
According to the RaNCD cohort study protocol, the CVDs participants are people with a history of hospitalization and/or treatment for one or more heart diseases such as stroke, MI and coronary artery disease, and/or taking medications for the CVDs.
Diagnosis of type II diabetes includes fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels equal to or greater than 126 mg/dl and/or treatment with hypoglycemic drugs. Also, subjects with systolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 90 mmHg, and/or those treated with blood pressure lowering medications were considered as subjects with HTN.
In this study, dyslipidemia was also considered to be a disorder of serum lipid profile indices including one or more of the following: LDL > 130 mg/dl, HDL < 45 mg/dl, TG > 150 mg/dl, Total Cholesterol > 200 mg/dl and/or taking blood lipid lowering medications including amlodipine, atorvastatin, clofibrate, fenofibrate, gemfibrozil, lovastatin and simvastatin [14].
Data analysis
Data were described using mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables and frequency and percentage for qualitative variable. The crude ORs with 95% confidence intervals used to examine the relationship between DII on prevalence of CVDs. Variables with p < 0.3 in univariable analysis were entered into multivariable logistic model. Then, variables with p-value> 0.05 were removed using forward or backward method. The fractional polynomial method was performed to quantitatively associate the effect of DII on prevalence of CVDs. In this method, the effects of demographic variables and BMI on CVDs were first adjusted. The effect of DII was then evaluated. The fractional polynomial is a regular polynomial alternative method that provides flexible parameterization for continuous variables. In all of the analyses, missing values was deleted (less than 1%). All analyzes were performed using Stata version 14.1 software (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA) with 95% confidence interval.