Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Mortality in Adventist Health Study 2

JAMA – June 3, 2013

Importance  Some evidence suggests vegetarian dietary patterns may be associated with reduced mortality, but the relationship is not well established.

Objective  To evaluate the association between vegetarian dietary patterns and mortality.

Design  Prospective cohort study; mortality analysis by Cox proportional hazards regression, controlling for important demographic and lifestyle confounders.

Setting  Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2), a large North American cohort.

Participants  A total of 96 469 Seventh-day Adventist men and women recruited between 2002 and 2007, from which an analytic sample of 73 308 participants remained after exclusions.

Exposures  Diet was assessed at baseline by a quantitative food frequency questionnaire and categorized into 5 dietary patterns: nonvegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo–vegetarian, and vegan.