Table 4.
Summary of the associations between each dietary score and frailty and between each dietary score and mortality
| Dietary scores | Frailty | 3-year mortality | 8-year mortality | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjusted for covariates | Adjusted for covariates + NI | Adjusted for covariates + FI | Adjusted for covariates + FI + NI | Adjusted for covariates + FI | Adjusted for covariates + FI + NI | |
| NI | Non-linear | N/A | + | N/A | + | N/A |
| E-DII | + | X | X | X | + | Non-linear |
| HEI-2015 | Non-linear | Non-linear | – | X | – | – |
| MDS | – | – | – | X | – | – |
| DASH | – | – | X | X | – | X |
| NI-nutrient | + | N/A | X | N/A | + | N/A |
| NI-lab/exam | Non-linear | N/A | + | N/A | + | N/A |
+ positive association, − reverse association, X no association, N/A not applicable
2007–2012 NHANES cohorts were included in the analysis and mortality was identified up to December 2015. We separated the 31-item nutrition Index into two indices: the NI-nutrient which included only the 18 nutrients and the NI-lab/exam which included 10 nutrition-related blood tests and 3 anthropometric measurements. Higher NI and E-DII scores and lower HEI-2015, MDS, and DASH scores represents worse dietary pattern/intake. Covariates in regression models and Cox regression models were age, sex, race, educational level, marital status, employment status, smoking, study cohort and BMI. The actual scores can be found in Tables 2 and 3, and Additional file 1: Table S5 and S6
DASH Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, E-DII Energy-density Dietary Inflammatory Index, FI Frailty index, HEI-2015 Healthy Eating Index-2015, MDS Mediterranean Diet Score, NI Nutrition Index