The association between Dietary Inflammatory Index and Latent Tuberculosis Infection in US participants :a cross-sectional study from NHANES

BackgroundThere is a growing recognition that inflammation related to diet could influence Latent Tuberculosis Infection(LTBI). However, the association between Dietary Inflammatory Index(DII) and LTBI remains unclear. ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the relationship between DII and LTBI using a cross-sectional design, incorporating univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis involving 3,892 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Demographic data, including age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI), education level, poverty income ratio (PIR), marital status, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension (HPT), and diabetes mellitus (DM), were collected from all participants. We used logistic regression, smooth curve fitting, and subgroup analys to achieve our research objectives. ResultsAmong all eligible participants, the mean age was 48.4 {+/-} 17.8 years, with males comprising 50.6% of the study population. After adjusting for confounding variables, we found a positive association between the DII and the risk of LTBI, with an odds ratio of 1.07 (95% CI, 1.01-1.13; P=0.023). Adjusted smoothed plots also suggest a straightforward linear relationship between DII and LTBI(P for non-linearity = 0.924),as the level of DII increases, the risk of LTBI shows an upward trend.Additionally, subgroup analysis within the defined gender, age, BMI, PIR, smoking, drinking, HPT, and DM groups indicated no significant interactions among the subgroups, as evidenced by all P values for interaction exceeding 0.05. ConclusionsThese results underscore that DII may serve as an important risk factor for LTBI, providing new insights for early screening and intervention strategies. However,further studies are needed to explore the underlying mechanisms.