Assessing the Association of the Dietary Inflammatory Index With Stroke Risk and All-Cause Mortality Among Hypertension Patients: A NHANES Cross-Sectional Study (2005-2018)

Objective To investigate the association between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and stroke risk among hypertensive adults, as well as all-cause mortality post-stroke, utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Methods This cross-sectional analysis included 7,590 hypertensive participants (stroke group: N=609; non-stroke group: N=6,981). DII was derived from 28 dietary components. Participants were stratified into DII tertiles: Q1 (lowest), Q2 (moderate), and Q3 (highest). Weighted multivariable logistic regression assessed associations between DII (continuous and categorical) and stroke prevalence. Restricted cubic splines (RCS) evaluated non-linearity. Subgroup analyses identified effect modifiers. Cox proportional hazards regression modeled associations of DII and its components with all-cause mortality in the stroke cohort. Results Stroke patients exhibited significantly higher DII scores than non-stroke controls ( P