ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Epilepsy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1599286
Association between dietary inflammatory index and epilepsy: findings from NHANES
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Hainan General Hospital, Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
- 2Department of Neurology, Hainan General Hospital, Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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Background: Inflammation plays a crucial role in the onset and progression of epilepsy. However, there is limited information regarding the relationship between diet-related inflammation and epilepsy. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and epilepsy.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2020. The DII scores were calculated and categorized into quartiles. Logistic regression was applied to assess the association between DII and epilepsy. Additionally, restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis and subgroup analyses were performed.Results: The study included a total of 10,761 participants. After adjusting for age, gender, race, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol consumption, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension, a significant positive association was observed between DII and epilepsy in multivariable logistic regression (quartile 4 vs. 1, OR = 2.66, 95% CI 1.66-4.28, P < 0.001). The RCS analysis further confirmed a positive linear relationship between increasing DII scores and epilepsy risk (P for overall = 0.0007, P for nonlinear = 0.5128). Subgroup analyses showed a consistent association between DII and epilepsy across different subgroups.Conclusion: Elevated DII scores are associated with the risk of epilepsy. To improve epilepsy prevention and management, attention to dietary inflammation regulation is essential.
Keywords: NHANES, DiI, Epilepsy, Cross-sectional study, Diet
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 16 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chuansen Lu, Department of Neurology, Hainan General Hospital, Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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