(P23-062-23) Association Between Dietary Inflammatory Index and Sarcopenic Obesity and Frailty in Korean Elderly: Using the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study Data

Objectives: Higher dietary inflammatory potential may affect musculoskeletal aging. This study examined whether a higher dietary inflammatory index (DII) is associated with increased risks of sarcopenic obesity (SO) and frailty among older Korean adults.

Methods: A total of 950 participants (aged 70-84 years) who completed the baseline nutrition survey in the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study was analyzed. Dietary intake was assessed using a 24-hour dietary recall, and the DII was calculated by assigning scores to 23 foods and nutrients according to their inflammatory potential. SO was defined as having both sarcopenia (appendicular skeletal muscle mass index of < 7.0 for men; < 5.4 for women) and abdominal obesity (waist circumference of ≥90cm for men; ≥85cm for women). A modified version of the Fried frailty index (range 0-5) was used to assess frailty status, and frail was defined as a score of 3-5. Dietary characteristics by SO and frailty status were presented as means and standard deviations (SDs) using the general linear model after adjusting for age, sex, and energy intake. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics.

Results: Of the 950 participants, 9.8% were classified as having SO, and 10.8% were classified as frail. Participants in the frail group were more likely to be older women. The DII score did not differ between the normal and SO groups (2.0, SD 0.1 vs. 1.82, SD 0.1), but it was significantly higher in the frail group (2.7, SD 0.1) (P < 0.001). Among nutrients and foods included in the DII, intakes of vitamin E, niacin, vitamin B6, energy, and protein were lower in the frail group than in either the normal or SO group. In a multivariable-adjusted model, participants in the highest DII tertile had 2.3 times higher odds of having frailty (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.1-4.8, P-trend=0.02), whereas there was no association between DII and SO (OR 1.1, 95% CI 0.5-2.1, P-trend=0.6).

Conclusions: A higher DII score was associated with increased odds of having frailty but not with SO in Korean elderly adults. These results suggest that proinflammatory diets may have a greater impact on frailty than SO in the elderly.

Funding Sources: The Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning