Association between dietary diversity and chronic kidney disease in community-dwelling older adults

The present study examined whether dietary diversity is associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in community-dwelling older Japanese adults.

Participants comprised 8,195 older adults (mean age was 74.0 ± 5.6 years; 42.7% were men) in this cross-sectional study. In this study, CKD was defined as estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) < 45 mL/min/1.73 m². Diet variety was assessed using the Food Frequency Score (FFS) (maximum, 30 points). The FFS assessed the one-week consumption frequency of ten foods (meat, fish/shellfish, eggs, milk, soybean products, green & yellow vegetables, potatoes, fruits, seafood, and fats & oil). Participants with an FFS of 16 or fewer points were defined as having low dietary diversity.

The prevalence of CKD was 376 (4.6%), and the low dietary diversity group had higher prevalence (5.6%) compared with the high and low dietary diversity group (4.3%). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed low dietary diversity was associated with CKD in older adults (OR 1.30, 95%CI 1.01–1.68). Stratified analysis showed that low dietary diversity was independently associated with CKD (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.07–1.91) in older adults with hypertension, but not in adults without hypertension (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.54–1.64).

This cross-sectional study revealed that low dietary diversity was associated with CKD among older adults. Furthermore, low dietary diversity was associated with CKD among older adults with hypertension.