Vegetarian Diet and Chronic Degenerative Diseases

Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Urinary Tract Infections; Gallstone; Cataract; Stroke; Cardiovascular Diseases; Depression; Dementia; Gout

Treatments: Other: Diet Exposure

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03470584

TCHS-02

Details and patient eligibility

About

To investigate the prospective association between a vegetarian diet and chronic degenerative diseases in two cohorts of Taiwanese Buddhists

Full description

The Tzu Chi Vegetarian Study (TCVS) recruited 12062 community volunteers of the Buddhists Tzu Chi Foundation throughout Taiwan in the year 2005. All participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on basic information, medical history, lifestyle, and diet.

The Tzu Chi Health Study (TCHS) recruited 6002 participants who came to the Buddhist Tzu Chi Dalin General Hospital for health examination. All participants were interviewed on basic information, medical history, lifestyle, and diet. Biochemical and anthropometric data was collected through a health examination:

Biochemical variables: CBC, fasting glucose, lipid profile (TCH, LDL, HDL, TG), BUN, Cr, ALT, AST, and UA. In addition, homocysteine, serum vitamin B12, folate, and C-reactive protein (CRP) are available for 1500 subjects.

Blood: Extra blood samples have been obtained and stored for 3500 subjects and will be available for future investigation.

Anthropometric variables: body weight, height, waist circumference, % body fat (with BIA), blood pressure, pulse wave velocity, bone mineral density through DXA (at spine for female and hip for male), lung function test (spirometric), abdominal sonography, colonoscopy, esophageal-gastro-duodenal-scopy, chest X-ray, KUB.

Follow-up: Individual baseline data were linked to the National Health Insurance Database and the National Death Registry to ascertain disease outcomes at the Health and Welfare Data Science Center.

Enrollment: 18,064 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants who consent to be followed.

Exclusion criteria

• Participants with inaccurate ID which make linkage to NHIRD impossible.
• Participants already with study outcome (disease) prior to enrollment in the study.
• Participants with missing covariates

Trial design

18,064 participants in 2 patient groups

Tzu Chi Vegetarian Study

Description:

12062 Tzu Chi volunteers of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation recruited throughout communities in Taiwan in the year 2005. All participants filled out a self-administered questionnaire on basic information, medical history, lifestyle, and diet. Diet exposure: 1/3 vegetarians, 2/3 nonvegetarians.

Treatment:

Other: Diet Exposure

Tzu Chi Health Study

Description:

6002 participants who came for health examination at the Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital between the years 2007 to 2009. 77% were Tzu Chi volunteers. All participants were interviewed on a structured questionnaire including basic information, medical history, lifestyle, and diet, and received a comprehensive health examination. Diet exposure: 1/3 vegetarians, 2/3 nonvegetarians.

Treatment:

Other: Diet Exposure