Fruit and vegetable consumption with risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm.

BACKGROUND: Dietary factors affecting the risk of developing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) are scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of fruit and vegetable consumption with the risk to develop AAA.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The prospective Cohort of Swedish Men and the Swedish Mammography Cohort, consisting of 44,317 men and 36,109 women, 46 to 84 years of age at the start of the 13-year follow-up (1998-2010), were used. Fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed at baseline with a 96-item food-frequency questionnaire. By linkage to the Swedish Inpatient Register and the Swedish Vascular Registry (Swedvasc), 1086 primary cases of AAA (222 ruptured) were identified. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Those in the highest quartile of fruit consumption (>2.0 servings/d), in comparison with those in the lowest quartile (<0.7 servings/d), had a 25% (95% CI, 9%-38%) lower risk of AAA, and a 43% (95% CI, 11%-64%) lower risk of ruptured AAA, specifically. Consumption of 2 fruits per day was associated with 31% (95% CI, 11%-47%) lower risk of nonruptured AAA, and 39% (95% CI, 1%-63%) lower risk of ruptured AAA, in comparison with no consumption of fruit. No association was observed between vegetable consumption and AAA risk.

CONCLUSIONS: We observed an inverse association between consumption of fruit, but not vegetables, and the risk of AAA, with a more pronounced association with ruptured AAA.