Socio-economic status, place of residence and dietary habits among the elderly: the Mediterranean islands study

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether the socio-economic status (SES) of elderly eastern Mediterranean islanders is associated with their dietary habits, particularly with adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured by the MedDietScore (range: 0-55), whereas SES was estimated using education and financial status. Subjects: During 2005-2007, 300 men and women from Cyprus, 100 from Samothraki, 142 from Mitilini, 114 from Kefalonia, 131 from Crete, 150 from Lemnos, 150 from Corfu and 103 from Zakynthos (aged 65-100 years), free of known chronic diseases, participated in the survey. Results: Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that belonging to the highest SES was associated with a higher MedDietScore (P , 0?01), after adjusting for potential sociodemographic, lifestyle, dietary and clinical confounders. A significant positive association was also found between MedDietScore and years of school (P 5 0?004), as well as financial status (P 5 0?001). Conclusions: Older Greek people of higher SES seem to follow a relatively healthier diet. Both education and income seem to play a role in this issue. Thus, public health policy makers should focus on people with low SES in order to improve their quality of diet and, consequently, their health status.

Determinants of the components of arterial pressure among older adults – The role of anthropometric and clinical factors: A multi-continent study

“…In the present analysis, higher education was inversely associated with hypertension, MAP, and PP levels in various countries. This in line with previous studies which have shown that higher socio-demographic status is related with better CVD health among the older adults [30]. Furthermore, diabetes and stroke were associated with hypertension and higher MAP and PP levels in many countries although the results were not as consistent as those for BMI.…”

Mediterranean diet adherence rates in Sicily, southern Italy

“…Indeed, it has been documented in many previous studies that different educational groups have healthier food choices (i.e. more adherent to the MD) probably due to increased nutrition knowledge and increased motivation to follow healthy lifestyles (6,13,(25)(26)(27)(28) . We confirmed the aforementioned trend, since participants in the medium educational category, mostly representative in the urban sample, were more likely to adhere to the MD compared with participants in the lower educational category.…”

Condiciones de vida, estado nutricional y estado de salud en adultos mayores, Córdoba, Argentina

“…Otra hipótesis, se relaciona con los hábitos de los adultos mayores; ya que en otros estudios se ha observado que un bajo nivel educativo se asocia con una menor adherencia a una dieta saludable, así como una menor realización de actividad física. 35,36 Las principales limitaciones del presente estudio se relacionan con su carácter transversal, lo cual no permite establecer asociaciones causa y efecto. Por otra parte, no se pueden generalizar los datos a la totalidad de la ciudad de Córdoba, ya que no se trató de una muestra representativa, sino intencional.…”