Associations between Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Sensory Impairments among Chinese Older Adults: Based on the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the plant-based dietary index and vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI), and dual sensory impairment (DSI) among Chinese aged 65 and older. Methods: Based on the 2018 data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a cross-sectional study was conducted on 14,859 samples. The assessment of dietary quality utilized the plant-based diet index (PDI), healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI), and unhealthy plant-based diet index (uPDI). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations between PDIs and sensory impairments. Additionally, restricted cubic spline analysis was utilized to investigate the nonlinear association between PDIs and sensory impairments. Results: Participants in the highest quintile of PDI exhibited reduced prevalence of VI (OR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.67 0.90, ptrend >0.001), HI (OR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.70 0.99, ptrend >0.001), and DSI (OR 0.62, 95% CI: 0.51 0.77, ptrend >0.001) relative to those in the lowest quintile. Moreover, individuals who ranked in the highest quintile for hPDI exhibited a 25% reduced risk of VI disease. Conversely, those in the highest quintile of uPDI were associated with increased prevalence of VI (OR 1.37, 95% CI: Xingxu Song, Zhong Tian, and Kexin Jiang contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. Lina Jin and Yuchun Tao have contributed equally as co-senior authors.