title: Effects of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-style diet on fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular diseases--incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis on observational prospective studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders affecting heart and blood vessels. However, protective roles are proposed for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-style diets.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this review was to summarize and if possible quantify the longitudinal effects of a DASH-style diet on the incidence of CVDs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pubmed, ISI web of science, and EMBASE were searched and cohort studies that examined the DASH-style diet in relation to CVDs, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and heart failure (HF) were selected. Cohort studies which included participants with specific CVD risk factors like diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, obesity or hypertension were excluded from review. Relative risks (RRs) that were reported for fully adjusted models and their confidence intervals were extracted for meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regarding the adherence to the DASH diet and the incidence of CVDs, stroke, CHD, and HF, only 6 studies met our criteria to be included in this systematic review. Meta-analysis showed that imitating a DASH-like diet can significantly reduce CVDs (RR = 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74-0.86; P < 0.001), CHD (RR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.71-0.88; P < 0.001), stroke (RR = 0.81, 95% CI, 0.72-0.92; P < 0.001), and HF (RR= 0.71, 95% CI, 0.58-0.88; P < 0.001) risk. A linear and negative association was obtained between DASH-style diet concordance and all CVDs, as well.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, our results showed that a DASH-like diet can significantly protect against CVDs, CHD, stroke, and HF risk by 20%, 21%, 19% and 29%, respectively. Furthermore, there is a significant reverse linear association between DASH diet consumption and CVDs, CHD, stroke, and HF risk.
authors: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Amin
authors: A
authors: Salehi-Abargouei
authors: Zahra
authors: Z
authors: Maghsoudi
authors: Fatemeh
authors: F
authors: Shirani
authors: Leila
authors: L
authors: Azadbakht
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004032:Diet; D006293:Health Promotion; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control