ABSTRACT

Background and aims:
Individual beverages have varying associations with cardiometabolic outcomes, but little is known about overall beverage quality and cardiometabolic risk after myocardial infarction (MI). We created the Beverage Quality Index (BQI) to assess beverage quality and examined its association with cardiometabolic outcomes after MI.

Methods and results:
We included 4365 Dutch post-MI patients from the Alpha Omega Cohort, aged 60-80 years. Diet was assessed at baseline (2002-2006) with a 203-item FFQ. The BQI included eight components (coffee, tea, milk, juices, sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol, added sugar to coffee and tea, and energy from beverages), and ranged from 0 to 80. Multivariable Cox models were used to estimate HRs for the BQI in relation to incident diabetes mellitus (DM), major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), recurrent cardiovascular disease (CVD) and fatal CVD over 3.4 y of follow-up, with follow-up for fatal CVD extended through 2018 (12.4 y). The average BQI was 50.0 ± 12.5. During 3.4 y of follow-up, we identified 186 incident cases of DM, 601 of MACE, 310 of recurrent CVD and 140 of fatal CVD. In multivariable models, a higher BQI (T3 vs. T1) was associated with lower risk of MACE [HR: 0.73 (0.59-0.90)], and recurrent CVD [HR: 0.67 (0.50-0.91)], but not with DM or CVD mortality. After 12.4 y of follow-up, 903 CVD deaths occurred. A significant inverse association with CVD mortality during long-term follow-up was found [HR: 0.81 (0.68-0.96)].

Conclusion:
Overall beverage intake quality, as assessed by the BQI, may represent an important target for the prevention of recurrent CVD.

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