Background: Limited research has examined the association between dietary patterns and mortality, especially in non-Western populations.

Objective: We examined the association of dietary patterns with all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, which included a unique ethnic population with strong Western and South Asian cultural influences.

Design: We conducted a prospective data analysis of the Singapore Chinese Health Study, which included 52,584 Chinese men and women (aged 45–74 y) who were free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer at baseline (1993–1998) and followed through 2011 with 10,029 deaths. The following 2 major dietary patterns were identified by using a principal components analysis: a vegetable-, fruit-, and soy-rich (VFS) pattern and a dim sum– and meat-rich (DSM) dietary pattern. Pattern scores for each participant were calculated and examined with all-cause and cause-specific mortality risks by using a Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results: The VFS pattern was inversely associated with all-cause mortality and each cause-specific category (CVD, cancer, and respiratory) of mortality during the follow-up period. Compared with the lowest quintile of the VFS pattern, HRs for quintiles 2–5 for all-cause mortality were 0.90, 0.79, 0.80, and 0.75, respectively (P-trend < 0.0001). The DSM pattern was positively associated with CVD mortality in the whole population (HR for fifth quintile compared with first quintile: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.40; P-trend = 0.001). Positive associations between the DSM pattern and cancer and all-cause mortality were only present in ever-smokers. In ever-smokers, relative to the first quintile, HRs for quintiles 2–5 of the DSM pattern for all-cause mortality were 1.04, 1.04, 1.13, and 1.24, respectively (P-trend < 0.0001). Similarly, HRs for quintiles 2–5 for cancer mortality were 1.08, 1.03, 1.25, and 1.34, respectively (P-trend < 0.0001). The DSM pattern was not associated with respiratory mortality.

Conclusion: Dietary patterns are strongly associated with mortality in Chinese Singaporeans.