[Trajectories of Dietary Variety Score among community-dwelling older Japanese and their related factors]

Aim To categorize the age-related trajectories of dietary variety score (DVS) in the community-dwelling elderly and to examine the associated factors. Methods The study population included 1,195 people who underwent a medical checkup for the elderly in Kusatsu-town, Gunma Prefecture in 2012 to 2017. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the factors associated with the age-related trajectories of DVS. The dependent variables were sex, age, family structure, years of education, BMI, subjective chewing ability, TMIG-IC, GDS-15, MMSE, smoking, alcohol consumption, and history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and stroke. Results The adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of the low trajectory group in comparison to the medium trajectory group were 2.69 (1.02-7.08) for subjective chewing ability (no chewing), 1.11 (1.06-1.17) for GDS-15, 1.76 (1.14-2.73) for current smoking, and 1.70 (1.19-2.43) for past smoking. In contrast, the adjusted odds ratio of the high trajectory group in comparison to the medium trajectory group were 0.61 (0.37-1.00) for men, 1.04 (1.01-1.07) for age, 0.58 (0.38-0.89) for subjective masticatory ability (difficult to chew), 0.88 (0.82-0.96) for GDS-15, and 0.55 (0.37-0.83) for a history of hypertension. Conclusions The age-related trajectory patterns of DVS in the community-dwelling elderly can be categorized into three types. In order to maintain a high quality of food intake, it was shown that, in addition to subjective masticatory ability and mental health factors, such as depression, we should pay attention to the control of hypertension, which is a risk factor for lifestyle diseases, and lifestyle habits such as smoking.