Cardiometabolic deaths attributable to poor diet among Kuwaiti adults

Nutrition transition towards a Western diet is happening in parallel with the rapidly increasing rates of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in Kuwait. The cardiometabolic deaths attributable to poor diet have not been quantified among Kuwaiti adults.

Using a Comparative Risk Assessment model that incorporated dietary intake data from Kuwait's first national nutrition survey, number of cardiometabolic deaths from the World Health Organization, and estimated associations of diet with cardiometabolic deaths from the Global Burden of Disease project, we estimated the number and proportion of cardiometabolic deaths attributable to suboptimal intake of 10 dietary factors among Kuwaiti adults ages 25+ years, and by population subgroups.

An estimated 1,308 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] = 1,228-1,485) cardiometabolic deaths were attributed to suboptimal diet, accounting for 64.7% (95% UI = 60.7%-73.4%) of all cardiometabolic deaths in Kuwait in 2009. The low intake of nuts/seeds was associated with the highest estimated number and proportion of cardiometabolic deaths (n = 380, 18.8%), followed by high intake of sodium (n = 256, 12.6%), low intake of fruits (n = 250, 12.4%), low intake of vegetables (n = 236, 11.7%), low intake of whole grains (n = 201, 9.9%), and high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (n = 201, 9.9%). The estimated proportions of cardiometabolic deaths attributable to suboptimal diet were higher in men (67.7%) than women (57.8%) and in younger adults aged 25-34 years (84.5%) than older adults aged ≥55 years (55.6%).

Suboptimal dietary intake was associated with a very substantial proportion of cardiometabolic deaths among Kuwaiti adults in 2009, with young adults and men experiencing the largest proportion of diet-associated cardiometabolic deaths in Kuwait.