Association between calcium intake and risk of congestive heart failure: a study from the 2003 - 2018 NHANES database

Background Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a critical condition due to poor blood pumping, causing fluid buildup. Calcium is crucial for skeletal health and muscle contraction, but its role in preventing CHF is unclear. Objectives This study aimed at exploring the relationship between calcium intake and the risk of CHF using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database spanning from 2003 to 2018. Methods After the questionnaire, subjects were divided into CHF and control groups, considering calcium intake as the exposure, alongside categorical variables like age and race. The variables were analyzed by t-tests and chi-square tests. Subsequently, the effect of different covariates on CHF was explored by risk stratification analysis. Moreover, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis was performed based on exposure and covariates to screen best predictor variables, and the LASSO results were assessed by receiver operating characteristic curve. Result Baseline characteristics showed significant differences in race, education, fasting glucose and calcium intake between CHF and control group (p < 0.05). Calcium intake was significantly associated with CHF in all three models (p < 0.001), being a safety factor for CHF. Then, LASSO regression analysis demonstrated calcium intake was a predictor variable. The area under curve values were greater than 0.7, showed great predictive ability of Model III and LASSO model. Conclusion This study showed that calcium intake was a safe factor for CHF, which can reduce the risk of CHF in patients. Which provided theoretical support for the prevention and diagnosis of CHF.