Association between Low Protein Intake and Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 12; no. 6; p. 1629
• Main Authors: Yamaoka, Takuya, Araki, Atsushi, Tamura, Yoshiaki, Tanaka, Shiro, Fujihara, Kazuya, Horikawa, Chika, Aida, Rei, Kamada, Chiemi, Yoshimura, Yukio, Moriya, Tatsumi, Ohashi, Yasuo, Akanuma, Yasuo, Ito, Hideki, Sone, Hirohito
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.06.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; aging; Alcohol; Angina pectoris; Annual reports; Blood pressure; Body mass index; Body weight; Cardiovascular disease; Cholesterol; Computer centers; Confidence intervals; Correlation analysis; Data Analysis; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - mortality; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - physiopathology; Dietary Proteins - administration & dosage; Eating - physiology; Energy intake; Energy Intake - physiology; Exercise; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Female; Food; Frailty; Heart attacks; Humans; Laboratories; Longitudinal Studies; Low density lipoprotein; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; nutritional support; Older people; Patients; Physical fitness; Prospective Studies; protein intake; Proteins; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Statistical analysis; Subgroups; Surveys and Questionnaires; Urine; Japan; mortality; nutritional support; aging; protein intake; diabetes
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu12061629

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between protein intake and mortality risk in patients with type 2 diabetes. We analyzed a pooled data of 2494 diabetic patients from two prospective longitudinal studies. Nutritional intake was assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire at baseline. Protein intake per body weight (kg) per day was categorized into quartile groups. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using Cox regression analysis. During the six-year follow-up, there were 152 incidents of all-cause mortality. The HR for mortality in the lowest quartile of protein intake per body weight compared with the highest quartile was 2.26 (95% CI: 1.34-3.82, = 0.002) after adjustment for covariates. Subgroup analyses revealed significant associations between low protein intake and mortality in patients aged over 75 years or under 65 years. After further adjustment of the total energy intake, a significant association between protein intake and mortality remained in patients aged ≥ 75 years, whereas the association was attenuated in those aged < 65 years. Our results suggest that adequate protein intake is necessary in older diabetic patients over 75 years, whereas with diabetes, whereas whole optimal total energy intake is required in younger patients with type 2 diabetes.