Table 1 General characteristics of study participants across tertiles of Alternative Healthy Eating Index and individuals with and without sarcopenia ^a

Age (year)

66.79 ± 7.70

64.5 ± 6.3

67.0 ± 7.8

0.08

66.1 ± 7.4

67.7 ± 7.5

67.2 ± 8.0

0.51

BMI (kg/m²) ^d

27.38 ± 4.20

23.4 ± 2.7

27.8 ± 4.1

< 0.001

27.0 ± 3.9

27.7 ± 4.4

27.3 ± 4.2

0.55

Physical activity (MET-h/wk) ^e

1294.52 ± 1429.57

1223.4 ± 1122.3

1302.7 ± 1462.3

0.77

1286.8 ± 1563.3

1076.0 ± 1013.6

1508.0 ± 1588.5

0.10

Female (%)

51

64.5

49.4

0.11

44.3

58.5

51.0

0.13

Alcohol use (%) ^f

13.3

9.7

13.8

0.52

15.1

16.0

9.0

0.29

Smoking (%)

12.7

12.9

12.6

0.96

19.8

7.4

10.0

0.02

 Diabetes (%)

20.7

6.5

22.3

0.03

17.9

20.2

24.0

0.55

 MI (%) ^g

12

6.5

12.6

0.31

13.2

9.6

13.0

0.68

 CVA (%) ^h

2.7

6.5

2.2

0.16

1.9

5.3

1.0

0.14

 Arthritis (%)

1.7

3.2

1.5

0.47

0.9

4.3

0

0.05

 Asthma (%)

2

3.2

1.9

0.60

2.8

3.2

2.0

0.21

 Sexual hormone use (%)

3

9.7

2.2

0.02

2.8

4.3

2.0

0.64

 Statin use (%)

36.7

35.5

36.8

0.88

31.1

40.4

39.0

0.33

 ACEI use (%) ⁱ

7.7

3.2

8.2

0.32

6.6

9.6

7.0

0.69

 Corticosteroid use (%)

2.7

12.9

1.5

< 0.001

1.9

5.3

1.0

0.14