Relationship of dietary intake and lifestyle factors to health-related quality of life in the community-dwelling elderly

Quality of life (QOL) encompasses a broad notion of health and is increasingly used to evaluate the effectiveness of health care services. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in the community-dwelling elderly (mean age, 72.7±0.3 y; female 46.4%, n=179) in Japan and to explore diminished factors. We assessed HR-QOL by the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), maximum walking speed, step counts, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG) index, dietary intake and blood biochemistry. Two summary scores of the SF-36 were calculated (physical component score: PCS, mental component score: MCS). We divided participants into two groups based on the standard values of PCS and MCS classified by age (high and low group), which was further stratified into a high PCS and high MCS (BH) group and a low PCS and low MCS (BL) group. Mean maximum walking speed and daily step counts were 207.7±2.8 cm/s and 7,008±289. Eighty-one percent of the participants had full scores in the TMIG index. Daily intake of energy and protein were 2,081±33 kcal and 74.5±0.9 g. The maximum walking speed, TMIG index, alcohol consumption and chewing ability were significantly higher in the BH group than those in the BL group, but not dietary intake. Stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that maintaining maximum walking speed might be associated with sustaining HR-QOL in the healthy elderly.