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Table 2 Participants’ characteristics for each group

From: Lower dietary variety is a relevant factor for malnutrition in older Japanese home-care recipients: a cross-sectional study

 

Malnourished

n = 59 (18.6%)

Non-malnourished

n = 258 (81.4%)

p-value

Sociodemographics

 Age, years

89(80;93)

83(76;88)

< 0.001

 Female, n(%)

40(67.8)

159(61.6)

0.456

 Living alone, n(%)

17(28.8)

73(28.3)

1.000

 Marital status, n(%)

  Married

24(40.7)

139(53.9)

 

  Unmarried

1(1.7)

15(5.8)

 

  Divorced/widowed

34(57.6)

104(40.3)

0.038

 Subjective economic status,n(%)

  Excellent

8(14)

41(17)

 

  Good

10(17.9)

57(23.0)

 

  Average

30(53.6)

127(51.2)

 

  Poor

7(12.5)

17(6.9)

 

  Very poor

1(1.8)

6(2.4)

0.309

 Cooking for oneself, n(%)

11(19.3)

64(25.0)

0.397

 Receive Meals on wheels, n(%)

12(20.3)

44(17.2)

0.573

Health indicators

 Charlson Comorbidity Index, score

2.0(1.0;3.0)

2.0(1.0;2.0)

0.002

 DSS

  Within normal limits

28(47.5)

200(77.5)

 

  Minimum problems

11(18.6)

31(12.0)

 

  Oral problems

7(11.9)

10(3.9)

 

  Occasional aspiration

6(10.2)

9(3.5)

 

  Water aspiration

7(11.9)

8(3.1)

< 0.001

Dietary variety

 FFS, score

19.0(14.0;23.0)

21.0(17.0;23.0)

0.028

  1. P-values from Mann–Whitney U test, Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test. Data are expressed as the median (25th percentile, 75th percentile) or as number of patients. DSS Dysphagia Severity Scale, FFS food frequency score