Work

Anti-inflammatory Diet Index and Bladder Cancer Risk by Stage: A 22-Year Prospective Swedish Cohort Study (1998–2020)

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Dietary patterns influencing systemic levels of inflammation have been proposed and investigated as possible determinants of cancer risk. We evaluated the association between the anti-inflammatory potential of diet and the risk of bladder cancer. METHODS: The anti-inflammatory diet index (AIDI), composed of 16 food groups (11 anti- and 5 pro-inflammatory), was used to score dietary patterns in N = 79,292 individuals derived from the Cohort of Swedish Men (established in 1997) and the Swedish Mammography Cohort (established in 1987). Dietary information was collected in 1997 and 2009; repeated-measures analyses used a cumulative-average AIDI. Incident bladder cancer cases were identified from the Swedish Cancer Register using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision code C67, and a baseline study questionnaire was used to assess covariates. We estimated multivariable hazard ratios (HR) across AIDI quartiles using Cox models. RESULTS: After a 22-year follow-up, 1,165 individuals were diagnosed with bladder cancer, of whom 249 had non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), 201 had muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), and 715 had unknown stage. In repeated-measures analyses, the highest anti-inflammatory quartile (Q4) was associated with lower bladder cancer risk compared with the lowest quartile [Q1; HR, 0.74; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.61-0.89]. Stratifying for tumor stage, there was a clear association between AIDI score and MIBC (HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.22-0.57) but not for NMIBC (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.57-1.28). CONCLUSIONS: An anti-inflammatory dietary pattern was associated with lower bladder cancer risk, with the clearest association for MIBC. IMPACT: These findings support the role of dietary inflammation in bladder cancer etiology and suggest that promoting anti-inflammatory dietary patterns could contribute to cancer prevention strategies.

Source: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention

DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-25-1733

Authors: Samira Prado, Henrik Ugge, Anders Vikerfors, Katja Fall, Tahir Taj

Institution: Örebro University

Language: English

Topic: Nutritional Studies and Diet

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Örebro Universitet, Region Örebro län