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Association between Elevated Magnesium Intake and Reduced Risk of Recurrent Falls and Frailty in Osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

  • Original Research
  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

The objective of this 8-year follow-up study was to investigate the relationship between magnesium intake and frailty, as well as recurrent falls, in individuals diagnosed with Osteoarthritis (OA) or those at a heightened risk for developing the condition.

Methods

This study utilized data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) database and conducted a prospective cohort study with a 8-year follow-up period. Total magnesium intake from both food sources and supplements was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), while frailty and recurrent falls were evaluated through established criteria and self-report, respectively. To account for potential confounding factors, various covariates were considered, and statistical analyses, including generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs), were employed to examine the associations.

Results

Among the 4,667 participants with OA, those with lower total magnesium intake were characterized by younger age, a higher proportion of African American individuals, higher body mass index (BMI), and lower dietary fiber intake (P<0.001). Notably, this group exhibited higher odds of experiencing recurrent falls and frailty (P = 0.034 and 0.006, respectively). Controlling for various factors, the GAMMs consistently revealed negative correlations between magnesium intake and the likelihood of frailty and recurrent falls, with each 1 mg/1000 kcal increase in magnesium intake associated with a 0.5% reduced frailty risk (p < 0.001) and a 0.2% decreased risk of recurrent falls (p = 0.001). Subgroup analyses suggested that increased total magnesium intake from both food sources and supplements may exert a more pronounced preventive effect on recurrent falls and frailty in men, older adults, individuals with normal BMI, and those with higher dietary fiber intake.

Conclusions

Elevated total magnesium intake from both food sources and supplements was found to be associated with a decreased risk of recurrent falls and frailty in individuals diagnosed with OA or those at risk of developing the condition. These findings imply that increased total magnesium intake might be beneficial in managing the risk of these outcomes, particularly within specific subgroups, including men, older adults, those with a normal BMI, and those with higher dietary fiber intake.

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Availability of data and material: The data used in this study can be downloaded for free in OAI.

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Acknowledgements: The authors thank the OAI investigators, clinical staff, and OAI participants at each of the OAI clinical centers for their contributions in acquiring the publicly available clinical and imaging data.

Funding

Funding: This study was supported by Non-profit Central Research Institute Fund of Beijing Hospital (BJ-2018-088) and National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2020YFC2008500). The study and image acquisition were funded by the OAI, a public-private partnership comprised of five contracts (N01-AR-2-2258; N01-AR-2-2259; N01-AR-2-2260; N01-AR-2-2261; N01-AR-2-2262) funded by the National Institutes of Health, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, and conducted by the OAI Study Investigators. Private funding partners include Merck Research Laboratories; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, Inc. Private sector funding for the OAI is managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. This manuscript was prepared using an OAI public use dataset and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the OAI investigators, the NIH, or the private funding partners. None of the study sponsors had any role in data collection, storage or analysis, in manuscript writing, or the decision to publish this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, NO.1 Da Hua Road, DongDan, Beijing, 100730, China

    Z. Zheng, L. Shi, F. Wang, Y. Qiu, L. Wang, Y. Xu & Qingyun Xue

  2. Peking University Fifth School of Clinical Medicine, Beijing, P R China

    Z. Zheng & Qingyun Xue

  3. Department of Nursing, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing, P R China

    H. Luo & C. Sun

  4. Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, P R China

    H. Luo, C. Sun & Qingyun Xue

  5. Department of Orthopedics, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, P R China

    W. Xu

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  1. Z. Zheng
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  2. H. Luo
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  3. W. Xu
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  4. L. Shi
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Contributions

Authors’ Contributions: The corresponding author affirms that all authors (ZZ, HL, WX, LS, FW, YQ, LW, YX, CS, QX) contributed to the planning, conduct, and reporting of the work described in the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qingyun Xue.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate: Informed consent documentation and study protocols were approved by institutional review boards of each center participating in the OAI.

Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Supplementary Material: Association between Elevated Magnesium Intake and Reduced Risk of Recurrent Falls and Frailty in Osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

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Zheng, Z., Luo, H., Xu, W. et al. Association between Elevated Magnesium Intake and Reduced Risk of Recurrent Falls and Frailty in Osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. J Nutr Health Aging 27, 775–784 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-023-1979-9

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