Abstract 808: Healthy dietary patterns and cancer survival: A cohort study

Abstract Introduction: Diet plays a crucial role in the management and recovery of cancer patients. Making appropriate dietary choices can help provide necessary nutrients, enhance the immune system, maintain energy levels, and promote recovery. To examine the associations of dietary scores for 9 healthy eating patterns with risk of all-cause and cancer mortality in cancer survivors. Methods: A prospective cohort of cancer survivors (n = 4001; weighted number, 17548466) from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018. Participants were linked to mortality data from their interview and physical examination date through December 31, 2019. The exposures were Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI2010), Alternate Mediterranean Diet score (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score (DASH), Dietary inflammation index (DII), Healthy dietary score (HDS), Healthy eating index-2020 (HEI2020), Plant-based diet index (PDI), Healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research dietary score (WADS). Main Outcomes were All-cause and cancer mortality. Results: The final study sample included 4001 cancer survivors (mean [SD] baseline age, 61.86[14.79] years; 2408 (66.37%) females; 2519(82.33) white individuals). During a total of 33130 person-years of follow-up, 1385 Participants died. Of note, when comparing the highest with the lowest tertiles, only AMED (HR (95% CI): 0.80 (0.65-0.98), P = 0.03), HEI2020 (HR (95% CI): 0.81 (0.68-0.96), P = 0.02), and hPDI (HR (95% CI): 0.84 (0.71-0.98), P = 0.03) were significantly associated with all-cause mortality. Also, higher levels of HEI2020 were associated with a lower risk of cancer mortality in cancer survivors (HR (95% CI): 0.70 (0.55-0.88), P = 0.003). All dietary scores had no nonlinear association with all-cause mortality. The inverse associations between these scores and risk of mortality were consistent in subgroups. Conclusions: In this cohort study of a nationally representative sample of US cancer survivors, embracing a comprehensive and nutritionally balanced dietary pattern, as exemplified by HEI2020, holds tremendous value in promoting the well-being and recovery of cancer survivors. Citation Format: Zilong Bian, Xiaohang Xu, Siyun Zhou, Xue Li, Xifeng Wu. Healthy dietary patterns and cancer survival: A cohort study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 808.