Dietary Diversity Changes and Cognitive Frailty in Chinese Older Adults: A Prospective Community-Based Cohort Study.

Evidence for the effects of dietary diversity changes and cognitive frailty (CF) in the older adults is not clear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary diversity changes and CF in older adults Chinese. A total of 14,382 participants (mean age: 82.3 years) were enrolled. Dietary diversity scores (DDSs) were collected and calculated using a food frequency questionnaire. DDS changes between baseline and first follow-up were categorized into nine patterns. The associations between DDS changes and the incidence of CF were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. During an 80,860 person-year follow-up, 3023 CF cases were identified. Groups with a decrease in DDS had increased CF risk compared with the high-to-high DDS group, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs; 95% confidence intervals (Cis)) of 1.30 (1.06, 1.59), 2.04 (1.51, 2.74), and 1.81 (1.47, 2.22) for high-to-medium, high-to-low, and medium-to-low groups, respectively. Lower overall DDS groups were associated with greater CF risks, with HRs (95% CIs) of 1.49 (1.19, 1.86) for the low-to-medium group and 1.96 (1.53, 2.52) for the low-to-low group. Compared with the high-to-high group, significant associations with CF were found in other DDS change groups; HRs ranged from 1.38 to 3.12 for the plant-based DDS group and from 1.24 to 1.32 for the animal-based DDS group. Additionally, extreme and moderate declines in overall DDS increased CF risk compared with stable DDS, with HRs (95% CIs) of 1.67 (1.50, 1.86) and 1.13 (1.03, 1.24), respectively. In conclusion, among older adults, a declining or persistently low DDS and a moderately or extremely declining DDS were linked to higher incident CF. Plant-based DDS changes correlated more strongly with CF than animal-based DDS changes.

Dietary diversity and frailty among older Chinese people: evidence from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study.

BACKGROUND: Dietary diversity is widely advocated as a means to promote health, but little is known regarding whether the beneficial effects still apply in older adults. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between the dietary diversity score (DDS) and frailty among older Chinese adults. METHODS: A total of 13,721 adults aged ≥65 y without frailty at baseline were enrolled. The DDS at baseline was constructed based on 9 items of a food frequency questionnaire. We used 39 self-reported health items to construct a frailty index (FI), with FI ≥ 0.25 indicating frailty. Cox models with restricted cubic splines were used to evaluate the dose-response relationships of DDS (continuous) with frailty. In addition, Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association between DDS (categorized as scores ≤4, 5-6, 7, and ≥8) and frailty. RESULTS: During the mean follow-up of 5.94 y, 5250 participants met the criteria for frailty. Each 1-unit increase in DDS corresponded to a 5% lower risk of frailty (hazard ratio [HR]; 0.95; 95% CI: 0.94, 0.97]. Compared with participants with DDS ≤4 points, those with a DDS of 5-6, 7, and ≥8 points exhibited a lower frailty risk, with HRs of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.71, 0.87), 0.75 (95% CI: 0.68, 0.83), and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.81), respectively (P-trend < 0.001). Protein-rich food items, such as meat; eggs; and beans, were associated with protective effects against frailty. In addition, a significant association was observed between higher consumption of 2 high-frequency foods, tea and fruits, and lower risk of frailty. CONCLUSIONS: A higher DDS was associated with a lower risk of frailty among older Chinese adults. This study highlights the importance of a diverse diet as a potential modifiable behavioral factor for preventing frailty in older Chinese adults.

Development and validation of the Sources of Meaning in Life Scale for the Elderly in China.

OBJECTIVES: People who find meaning in life can endure 'any' pain. However, there were no tools to investigate elderly individuals' sources of meaning in life in China. This study aimed to develop the Sources of Meaning in Life Scale for the Elderly (SMSE), and examine the validation and reliability in Chinese elderly. METHODS: A 43-item pool of SMSE was formed by combining the preliminary interview and literature review. A cross-sectional survey of 627 elderly people was then conducted in two community health service centers, two hospitals, and two nursing homes in Guangzhou by the convenience sampling method. Test-retest reliability was assessed with 24 elderly persons. RESULTS: Six dimensions, containing family (four items), social support (four items), value (seven items), life security (four items), personal development (four items), and leisure activity (five items) explained 62.16% of the variance in total. Confirmatory factor analysis model fitting indices were χ2 = 694.652, df = 330, χ2/df = 2.105, SRMR = 0.0695, GFI = 0.853, IFI = 0.905, TLI = 0.889, CFI = 0.903, and RMSEA = 0.062. The Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was 0.924, while that of each dimension was between 0.727 and 0.870. The inter-class correlation (ICC) of the scale was 0.856. CONCLUSION: The SMSE has good reliability and validity that can be used to evaluate the sources of meaning and meaning in life for the elderly.