Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2019 Feb;58(1):173-191.
doi: 10.1007/s00394-017-1582-0. Epub 2017 Nov 25.

Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Valentina Rosato  1 , Norman J Temple  2 , Carlo La Vecchia  1 , Giorgio Castellan  3 , Alessandra Tavani  4 , Valentina Guercio  5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Valentina Rosato et al. Eur J Nutr. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: To provide evidence of the relationship of Mediterranean diet (MD) on incidence/mortality for cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary/ischemic heart disease (CHD)/acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke (ischemic/hemorrhagic) by sex, geographic region, study design and type of MD score (MDS).

Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Pooled relative risks (RRs) were calculated using random-effects models.

Results: We identified 29 articles. The RR for the highest versus the lowest category of the MDS was 0.81 (95% CI 0.74-0.88) for the 11 studies that considered unspecified CVD, consistent across all strata. The corresponding pooled RR for CHD/AMI risk was 0.70 (95% CI 0.62-0.80), based on 11 studies. The inverse relationship was consistent across strata of study design, end point (incidence and mortality), sex, geographic area, and the MDS used. The overall RR for the six studies that considered unspecified stroke was 0.73 (95% CI 0.59-0.91) for the highest versus the lowest category of the MDS. The corresponding values were 0.82 (95% CI 0.73-0.92) for ischemic (five studies) and 1.01 (95% CI 0.74-1.37) for hemorrhagic stroke (four studies).

Conclusions: Our findings indicate and further quantify that MD exerts a protective effect on the risk of CVD. This inverse association includes CHD and ischemic stroke, but apparently not hemorrhagic stroke.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Coronary heart disease; Mediterranean diet; Meta-analysis; Stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Clin Epidemiol. 2000 Feb;53(2):207-16 - PubMed
    1. Stat Med. 2002 Jun 15;21(11):1539-58 - PubMed
    1. Eur J Nutr. 2002 Aug;41(4):153-60 - PubMed
    1. Coron Artery Dis. 2002 Aug;13(5):295-300 - PubMed
    1. Nutr J. 2003 Mar 19;2:1 - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources