Project

AlphaOmega Cohort on dietary factors and cardiometabolic outcomes.

“The Alpha Omega Cohort is a prospective study of 4,837 Dutch patients aged 60-80 years who had a clinically diagnosed myocardial infarction up to 10 years before enrolment (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03192410; www.alphaomegacohort.org).

Patients (78% male) were on average 69 years old at the start of the study and had their (last)myocardial infarctionapproximately 4 years ago. Twenty-one per cent had diabetes. Extensive baseline measurements took place, which included the assessment of cardiovascular risk factors, dietary intake, lifestyle and medication use.

During the first 40 months of follow-up, patients took part in an experimental study of low doses of n-3 fatty acids (Alpha Omega Trial, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00127452). At baseline (2002-2006) and after 40 months (around half of the cohort), data on medical history, medication use, diet, lifestyle and other factors were collected by means of questionnaires. Patients were physically examined by trained research nurses and blood samples were obtained, for the analysis of fatty acids, cardiometabolic biomarkers, and GWAS. Follow-up for vital status and cause-specific mortality is ongoing.

The cohort is used for studying dietary factors and a wide array of other exposures in relation to mortality, cardiovascular events and other outcomes, including incident diabetes, kidney function decline and mental health. In addition, drug-diet interactions are studied in the context of the HYPERMARKER project (www.hypermarker.eu).”

The Alpha Omega Trial was funded by the Netherlands Heart Foundation and the National Institute of Health. Margarines were provided by Unilever.

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More research: Nutrition and cardiovascular disease

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