Higher intakes of saturated fatty acids (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01-1.03) and monounsaturated fatty acids were independently associated with increased chronic cough prevalence.
Cross-Sectional (n=9,698)
Does higher intake of dietary fat components increase the prevalence of chronic cough in the general population?
Higher dietary intake of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids is associated with an increased risk of chronic cough, an effect partially mediated by systemic inflammation.
Effect estimate: OR 1.02 (95% CI 1.01-1.03)
p-value: p=<0.05
Abstract Background Chronic cough affects approximately 12.7% of the population and significantly impairs quality of life, yet 12-40% of cases remain undiagnosed. While dietary fat has been implicated in modulating inflammatory responses and respiratory health, its comprehensive relationship with chronic cough remains unclear. We investigated the association between multiple dietary fat components and chronic cough prevalence, examining systemic inflammation as a potential mediator and identifying key predictive factors using machine learning approaches. Methods We analyzed data from 9,698 NHANES participants, including 1,065 individuals with chronic cough. Dietary fat components assessed via 24-hour recalls included cholesterol, saturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and monounsaturated fatty acids. Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) evaluated individual and combined fat exposures. Logistic regression and restricted cubic splines examined dose-response relationships. Systemic inflammation was quantified using the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and the systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI). Machine learning models (Random Forest, XGBoost, SVM, Neural Network, and Decision Tree) with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) identified key predictors. Results Higher intakes of saturated fatty acids (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03, p 0.05) and monounsaturated fatty acids (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.03, p 0.05) were independently associated with increased chronic cough prevalence after full adjustment. Polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol showed no significant associations. BKMR analysis demonstrated that increasing the dietary fat mixture significantly elevated chronic cough prevalence. Random Forest modeling achieved optimal predictive performance (AUC 0.701, Accuracy 0.887). SHAP analysis identified chronic airway disease as the strongest predictor, followed by smoking, cardiovascular disease, SIRI, and saturated fatty acids. Mediation analysis revealed that SII and SIRI significantly mediated the associations between saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and chronic cough (mediation proportions 1.03-2.29%, P 0.05). Conclusions Dietary saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids are positively correlated with the risk of chronic cough, and systemic inflammation mediates these associations.. These findings suggest that dietary modification targeting fat intake may represent a novel preventive strategy for chronic cough. Our study provides a framework for personalized risk assessment, highlighting the clinical importance of considering nutritional factors alongside traditional risk factors in chronic cough management. This abstract is funded by: No
Wen et al. (Fri,) conducted a cross-sectional in Chronic cough (n=9,698). Dietary fat components (saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids) was evaluated on Chronic cough prevalence (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03, p=<0.05). Higher intakes of saturated fatty acids (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01-1.03) and monounsaturated fatty acids were independently associated with increased chronic cough prevalence.