Healthy plant‐based dietary pattern is associated with a lower risk of rosacea

Abstract Background Several plant‐based dietary foods are associated with the rosacea risk, but the associations between plant‐based dietary patterns and the risk of rosacea remain unclear. Objectives We aimed to examine the associations of plant‐based dietary patterns, represented by three plant‐based diet indices (PDIs), with the risk of rosacea. Methods This prospective cohort study included 198,557 participants free of rosacea at baseline from the UK Biobank. Three PDIs (the overall plant‐based diet index, PDI; the healthful plant‐based diet index, hPDI; and the unhealthful plant‐based diet index, uPDI) were calculated from 24‐h dietary recalls based on 17 food groups. The primary outcome was the risk of rosacea. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results During a median follow‐up of 13.46 years, 1075 new‐onset rosacea cases were recorded. Each 10‐point increase in the PDI and hPDI was associated with a 16% (95% CI: 0.76, 0.94) and 9% (95% CI: 0.82, 1.00) decrease in the risk of rosacea, respectively, whereas each 10‐point increase in the uPDI was associated with a 12% (95% CI: 1.02, 1.24) increase in the risk. Compared with participants in the lowest PDI quintile, those in the highest PDI quintile had a lower risk of rosacea, with a HR of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.63, 0.95; p for trend = 0.004). In contrast, compared with participants in the lowest uPDI quintile, participants in the highest uPDI quintile had a higher risk of rosacea, with a HR of 1.23 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.48; p for trend = 0.046). Conclusions A higher PDI or hPDI decreased the risk of rosacea, whereas a higher uPDI increased the rosacea risk. These findings suggest that adhering to an overall or a healthful plant‐based pattern while avoiding an unhealthful plant‐based pattern should be recommended as preventive strategies for rosacea.