Prospective Study of Diet Quality and the Risk of Dementia in the Oldest Old

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 15; no. 5; p. 1282
• Main Authors: Flores, Ashley C, Jensen, Gordon L, Mitchell, Diane C, Na, Muzi, Wood, G Craig, Still, Christopher D, Gao, Xiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Accuracy; Age groups; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Alzheimer Disease; Alzheimer's disease; Cardiovascular disease; Cohort Studies; Dementia; Dementia disorders; Diagnostic tests; Diet; diet quality; dietary pattern; Electronic health records; Electronic medical records; Food and nutrition; Health aspects; Health maintenance organizations; HMOs; Humans; Investigations; Longitudinal studies; Nutrition research; Older people; oldest old; Parkinson's disease; Prevention; Prospective Studies; prospective study; Quality assessment; Questionnaires; Risk; Risk factors; Statistical models; United States; United States > US; Pennsylvania; dementia; aging; dietary pattern; prospective study; diet quality; oldest old
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15051282
• ISSN: 2072-6643

This study examined the associations between overall diet quality and the risk of dementia in a rural cohort among the oldest old. Included in this prospective cohort study were 2232 participants aged ≥ 80 years and dementia-free at the baseline according to the Geisinger Rural Aging Study (GRAS), a longitudinal cohort in rural Pennsylvania. In 2009, diet quality was assessed by a validated dietary screening tool (DST). Incident cases of dementia during 2009-2021 were identified using diagnosis codes. This approach was validated by a review of electronic health records. Associations between diet quality scores and the incidence of dementia were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for potential confounders. Across a mean of 6.90 years of follow-up, we identified 408 incident cases of all-cause dementia. Having a higher diet quality was not significantly associated with a lower risk for incidents of all-cause dementia (adjusted HR for the highest compared with the lowest tertile: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.79, 1.29, P-trend = 0.95). Similarly, we did not observe a significant association between diet quality and altered risks of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Overall, having a higher diet quality was not significantly associated with a lower risk of dementia among the oldest old during the full follow-up.