Cardiometabolic & kidneyCohort study
Associations of plant-based diets with all-cause and cause-specific mortality and life expectancy among participants with cardiometabolic disorders from UK, USA, and China
- Prospective cohort study
- pooled analysis of 3 cohorts (UK Biobank (UKB), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS))
Authors' conclusion
Among participants with cardiometabolic disorders, overall and healthful plant-based diets were associated with lower all-cause and cause-specific mortality and longer life expectancy, while unhealthful plant-based diet was associated with higher mortality and shorter life expectancy.
Study context
- Population
- Participants with cardiometabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes or cardiovascular diseases (CVD)) from UK Biobank, US NHANES and Chinese CLHLS12,150 deaths
- Participants
- 78,151 participants
- Exposure
- Highest vs lowest quartile of plant-based diet indices
- Outcome
- All-cause and cause-specific mortality and life expectancy
- Follow-up
- Mean 11.4 years
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Mortality by PDI (pooled, extreme quartiles)
PDI vs Lowest quartileHazard ratio (95% CI)
extreme quartiles; all-cause mortality
0.85(0.81–0.90)
extreme quartiles; CVD mortality
0.82(0.72–0.93)
extreme quartiles; other mortality
0.82(0.69–0.97)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Life expectancy at age 65 years, extreme quartiles
- PDI: longer life expectancy
- 1.22-year
- Healthful PDI (hPDI): longer life expectancy
- 2.10-year
- Unhealthful PDI (uPDI): shorter life expectancy
- 2.22-year
Consistency across cohorts and in obesity, T2D and CVD separately
- Associations remained similar across the three cohorts and among people with obesity, T2D and CVD
Original publication
Associations of plant-based diets with all-cause and cause-specific mortality and life expectancy among participants with cardiometabolic disorders from UK, USA, and China. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 17 April 2026. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwag220
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it