Comprehensive geriatric assessment of elderly highlanders in Qinghai, China IV: comparison of food diversity and its relation to health of Han and Tibetan elderly.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between food diversity and health status of Han and Tibetan elderly highlanders in Qinghai Plateau, China.


METHODS
The study population consisted of 240 community-dwelling elderly subjects aged 60 years or more (176 Han elderly subjects, 64 Tibetan ones). Food diversity was determined using an 11-item Food Diversity Score Kyoto (FDSK-11). Subjects were interviewed on health status including activities of daily living (ADL), screening-based depression and quality of life (QOL). Blood chemical investigation was carried out in association with food diversity.


RESULTS
ADL was significantly lower in both Han and Tibetan elderly with lower food diversity than those with higher diversity. In Han elderly with lower food diversity, QOL was significantly lower in the items of subjective sense of health, relationship with family and subjective happiness, but not significant in Tibetan elderly. A close association was found between lower food diversity and lower financial satisfaction in both Han and Tibetan subjects. No association was found between food diversity and age or body mass index. Higher food diversity was associated with lower blood glucose level in Han elderly subjects, but the opposite association was found in Tibetan ones.


CONCLUSIONS
Food diversity was associated with ADL and QOL in highlanders in Qinghai, China. Food assessment is very important as a useful indicator to establish the actual condition of diet and its relation to health status of community-dwelling elderly as well as the change of economic background in the Qinghai highlands.
Kimura
Yumi
Y
Department of Field Medicine, School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan.
Okumiya
Kiyohito
K
Sakamoto
Ryota
R
Ishine
Masayuki
M
Wada
Taizo
T
Kosaka
Yasuyuki
Y
Wada
Chizu
C
Ishimoto
Yasuko
Y
Hirosaki
Mayumi
M
Kasahara
Yoriko
Y
Konno
Akiko
A
Chen
Wingling
W
Otsuka
Kuniaki
K
Fujisawa
Michiko
M
Nakatsuka
Masahiro
M
Nakashima
Michiro
M
Wang
Hongxin
H
Dai
Qingxiang
Q
Yang
Airong
A
Gao
Jidong
J
Li
Zhanquan
Z
Qiao
Haisheng
H
Zhang
Yongshou
Y
Ge
Ri-Li
RL
Matsubayashi
Kozo
K
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005006:Ethnicity; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D018609:Tibet