Dietary patterns and asthma in the E3N study

¹ Inserm, U780, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Villejuif, France; and Univ Paris-Sud, IFR69, Villejuif, France
² Inserm, U700, Paris, France
³ Univ Paris-Sud, IFR69, Villejuif, France; Inserm, ERI20, Villejuif, France; and Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
⁴ Inserm, ERI20, Villejuif, France; and Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: iromieu{at}correo.insp.mx.

	Abstract

The aim was to determine dietary patterns and investigate their associations with incident asthma, current asthma and frequent asthma exacerbations.

Dietary habits and asthma data were collected from the large E3N study (French women, mostly teachers). Of 54, 672 women followed-up in 2003, 2, 634 reported ever adulthood asthma, 1, 063 current asthma, 206 frequent asthma attacks ( 1/week), and 628 asthma-onset between 1993 and 2003. Using principal component analysis, three dietary patterns were identified: "prudent" pattern (fruits and vegetables), "Western" pattern (pizza/salty pies, dessert and cured meats) and "nuts and wine" pattern. Pattern scores were categorized into tertiles and the incidence and prevalence of asthma compared between tertiles.

After adjustment for confounders, no association of dietary patterns was observed with incident, ever or current asthma. The "Western" pattern was associated with an increased risk of reporting frequent asthma attacks (OR for highest vs. lowest tertile [95% CI]=1.79 [1.11–3.73], p for trend=0.01). Increasing scores of the "nuts and wine" pattern were associated with a decreased risk of reporting frequent asthma attacks (OR for highest vs. lowest tertile [95% CI]=0.65 [0.31, 0.96], p for trend=0.02).

Results suggest that overall diet could be involved in frequent asthma exacerbations, one aspect of asthma severity.