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Comment on “Meta-analysis of the association between the dietary inflammatory index and risk of chronic kidney disease” by Chen et al. 2024

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 79, pages 698–699 (2025)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 13 May 2025

This article has been updated

We read with interest the meta-analysis conducted by Chen et al. [1], which claims to have investigated the association between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The study included 6 studies [2,3,4,5,6,7], consisting of 3 cross-sectional and 3 prospective cohort research papers. The findings indicated a 44% greater overall risk of developing CKD for individuals in the highest DII exposure category. However, it is worth noting that although Chen et al. claimed to have investigated the association between DII and CKD risk in their study, some of the included articles in their meta-analysis did not specifically examine this relationship [1].

Notably, all the included cohort studies in Chen et al.’s meta-analysis examined the association between DII and all or specific-cause mortality [3,4,5]. While the study by Yan et al. [3] clearly examined the association between the DII and all-cause mortality, Chen et al. considered the hazard ratio (HR) from Yan et al.‘s study as a risk measure for CKD development [1]. Similarly, the studies by Huang et al. [4] and Bondonno et al. [5] reported the risk for all-cause mortality and renal disease-related mortality, respectively, which Chen et al. interpreted as the risks of CKD.

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Change history

  • 12 May 2025

    The original online version of this article was revised: In this article the author’s name Farzam Kamrani was incorrectly written as Frazam Kamrani.

  • 13 May 2025

    A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-025-01630-0

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interventional Cardiology Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Amirhossein Ataei Kachouei

  2. Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition and Health, University of Bayreuth, Kulmbach, Germany

    Amirhossein Ataei Kachouei

  3. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Farzam Kamrani

  4. Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Fahimeh Haghighatdoost

Authors
  1. Amirhossein Ataei Kachouei
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  2. Farzam Kamrani
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  3. Fahimeh Haghighatdoost
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Contributions

Authorship: AAK, FK, and FH were responsible for designing and writing the letter. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fahimeh Haghighatdoost.

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Ataei Kachouei, A., Kamrani, F. & Haghighatdoost, F. Comment on “Meta-analysis of the association between the dietary inflammatory index and risk of chronic kidney disease” by Chen et al. 2024. Eur J Clin Nutr 79, 698–699 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-025-01582-5

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