Association between Fish Consumption and Risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease among Chinese Men and Women:...

Epidemiological evidence on the relation between fish consumption and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is limited, especially among Chinese.

The aim was to explore the prospective association between fish consumption and COPD among a large population-based Chinese cohort.

The China Kadoorie Biobank recruited over 0.5 million participants from 10 geographically diverse regions across China from 2004 to 2008. Consumption frequency of fish at baseline was assessed by a validated food-frequency questionnaire. A total of 169,188 men and 252,238 women who had no prior COPD or other major chronic diseases at baseline were included in our analyses. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate HRs and 95% CIs for fish consumption categories in relation to incident COPD.

During a median follow-up of 11.1 y, 11,292 incident COPD cases were documented. Fish consumption was inversely associated with COPD risk among women, with a 17% reduction in risk for participants who consumed fish ≥4 d/wk compared with nonconsumption (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.99; P-trend = 0.017), whereas we did not observe such a dose-response relation among men (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.76, 1.05; P-trend = 0.373). The joint analysis showed that COPD risk was 38% and 48% lower in men and women who consumed fish ≥4 d/wk and had a healthy lifestyle [having ≥4 of the following healthy lifestyle factors: not smoking currently; never or rarely drinking alcohol; adequate physical activity; BMI (kg/m2): 18.5-23.9; normal waist circumference; reasonable diet], compared with participants with fish consumption <4 d/wk and an unhealthy lifestyle (≤1 factors).

Higher fish consumption was associated with lower COPD risk among Chinese women but not men. This association was independent of lifestyle factors. Eating adequate fish with an overall healthy lifestyle might help lower the risk of COPD.