Abstract

Epidemiological studies show that adherence to healthy dietary patterns may be associated with a lower risk of decline in kidney function. However, existing evidence has not been quantitatively gathered. Pertinent observational studies investigating the association of adherence to a healthy dietary pattern, either priori-defined dietary pattern/indices or data-driven dietary patterns, with risk of kidney disease in the general population were identified by searching Medline and Scopus databases to May 28, 2018. A random-effects meta-analysis was applied. The analysis included eight prospective cohorts (5734 cases among 569,688 participants) and five cross-sectional studies (1955 cases among 16,614 participants). Higher adherence to a healthy dietary pattern (either priori-defined or data-driven dietary patterns) was associated with a 28% lower risk of kidney disease in the analysis of prospective cohort studies (RR = 0.72, 95 % CI = 0.58, 0.86; I = %71, n = 8). A subgroup analysis based on definition of healthy dietary pattern resulted in significant inverse association only in the subgroup of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension dietary pattern (RR: 0.74, 95 % CI: 0.54, 0.93; I = 73%, n = 5). A dose-response analysis indicated a monotonic inverse association between adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension dietary pattern with risk of kidney disease. A 32% lower risk was observed in the analysis of cross-sectional studies (OR: 0.68, 95 %CI: 0.53, 0.83, I = 0%, n = 5). The findings suggest that higher adherence to a healthy dietary pattern is associated with a lower risk of kidney disease.