The incidence of OCC is increasing among non-smokers and young non-Hispanic white individuals without traditional risk factors worldwide. We plan to examine the impact of different dietary patterns on risk of early-onset (age 18 years with OCC diagnosed after enrolment in the UK Biobank study.
Dietary Data: Semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data will be analyzed. The NOVA classification will be used to categorise foods into four groups according to extent and purpose of industrial processing. Individual food items will be classified according to degree of processing. For SSB intake, classified according to quartiles (1 to <7/week, 1+ SSB/day). Unhealthy dietary patterns will be categorized as in Gao et al. BMC Medicine 2021.
Covariates: We will collect data on age at recruitment, location, sex, smoking status (never, former, current, unknown), alcohol intake per day (g/d), heigh, weight, BMI, history of diabetes.
Statistical analysis: Cox proportional hazard models will be used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of OCC risk of each quartile of the dietary pattern of interest, with the lowest quartile serving as the reference group.
