Elsevier

Annals of Epidemiology

Volume 4, Issue 5, September 1994, Pages 404-415
Annals of Epidemiology

Original report
Eating patterns of community-dwelling older adults: The cardiovascular health study

https://doi.org/10.1016/1047-2797(94)90076-0Get rights and content

Abstract

We analyzed eating patterns of 4643 adults (1988 men and 2655 women) aged 65 years and older at the time of their enrollment in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Diet was assessed with a qualitative, picture-sort food frequency questionnaire along with supplemental questions on other eating pattern variables. Consumption of high fat foods and low fiber foods was more frequent in older participants, men, minorities, and persons with body mass index ⩾ 30 kg/m2 and less common among persons who reported following self-prescribed or medically prescribed special diets. Few associations of consumption of specific food groups with disease status were identified. Participants with coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease were significantly more likely to report following a special diet and using low-calorie or low-sodium food products, however. Although the percentage of participants with prevalent disease who reported following special diets was relatively low from a clinical perspective, it was sufficiently high to suggest that controlling for dietary modifications may be important when attempting to identify associations of diet with prevalent disease in older populations.

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    This work was supported by contracts N01-HC-85079, N01-HC-85080, N01-HC-85081, N01-HC-85082, N01-HC-85084, N01-HC-85085, and N01-HC-85086, from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and grant K01-AG-00391 from the National Institute on Aging.

    Participating institutions and principal staff are listed in the Appendix.

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