title: Comprehensive geriatric assessment of elderly highlanders in Qinghai, China IV: comparison of food diversity and its relation to health of Han and Tibetan elderly.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Field Medicine, School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Kiyohito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okumiya
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishine
authors.forename: Taizo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kosaka
authors.forename: Chizu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishimoto
authors.forename: Mayumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirosaki
authors.forename: Yoriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kasahara
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Konno
authors.forename: Wingling
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kuniaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakatsuka
authors.forename: Michiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Hongxin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qingxiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Airong
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jidong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Zhanquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Haisheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Yongshou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ri-Li
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Kozo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsubayashi
mesh_terms: 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