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Associations between Dietary Variety and Frailty in Community-Dwelling Older People Who Live Alone: Gender Differences

  • Original Research
  • Physical Frailty
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Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate the influences of living arrangements on the association between dietary variety and frailty by gender in community-dwelling older people.

Design

A cross-sectional study.

Setting

Nishinomiya city, Hyogo prefecture, Japan.

Participants

A total of 4,996 randomly selected community-dwelling older people aged 65 years and older and living in Nishinomiya City.

Measurements

Survey questionnaires were distributed via mail. The frailty score was evaluated by the 5-item frailty screening index. Dietary variety was assessed using the dietary variety score developed for the general older Japanese population.

Results

A total of 2,764 community-dwelling participants aged ≥ 65 years responded to the questionnaires. After excluding missing data, 1,780 participants were included in the study analysis. The frailty scores in older men living alone were significantly higher than those in older men living with someone (P < 0.001). The dietary variety scores in older men living alone were significantly lower than those in older men living with someone (P < 0.001). However, differences in the frailty and dietary variety scores between living alone and living with someone were not were observed in older women (P = 0.360 and P = 0.265, respectively). In the multivariable regression analysis, the associations between dietary variety score and frailty score in living alone (β= −0. 271, P = 0.011) were stronger than those in living with someone in the case of older men (β= −0.131, P = 0.045). Similar associations between dietary variety and frailty were presented in older women living alone than in those living with someone (β −0.114, P = 0.002; β −0.088, P = 0.012, respectively).

Conclusions

Older men who live alone had higher frailty score and lower dietary variety. The associations between dietary variety and frailty were different according to living arrangements in both older men and older women.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 20K19730. We thank the city employees at Nishinomiya City Office for their help in distributing survey questionnaires.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dietary Life and Food Sciences, Junior College Division, Mukogawa Women’s University, Hyogo, Japan

    M. Yokoro

  2. Research Institute for Nutrition Sciences, Mukogawa Women’s University, Hyogo, Japan

    M. Yokoro, Naoto Otaki, M. Yano, N. Tanino & K. Fukuo

  3. Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, School of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Mukogawa Women’s University, 6-46 Ikebiraki-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 663-8558, Japan

    Naoto Otaki, M. Tani & K. Fukuo

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  1. M. Yokoro
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Correspondence to Naoto Otaki.

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Conflict of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards: The ethics committee of Mukogawa Women’s University approved this study (approval number 20–53).

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Yokoro, M., Otaki, N., Yano, M. et al. Associations between Dietary Variety and Frailty in Community-Dwelling Older People Who Live Alone: Gender Differences. J Frailty Aging 12, 30–36 (2023). https://doi.org/10.14283/jfa.2021.49

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.14283/jfa.2021.49

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