A Meta Analysis Of The Clinical Effect Of Mediterranean Diet On The Elderly Frailty

Background: Frailty is a common syndrome in old people.It remains controversial whether Mediterranean diet could prevent old people from developing into frailty.Objective: To summarize the relevant studies and assess the effectiveness of adherence to Mediterranean diet on frailty in old people.Method: A systematic search of MEDLINE,EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was conducted to identify all relevant studies up to Jan 2015.We included studies regarding the associations between Mediterranean diet and risk of frailty among elders.A meta-analysis was performed to explore the effects of Mediterranean diet on frailty.Results: Five studies matched the inclusion criteria,of which two were prospective and two were cross-sectional.A total of 10231 participants from the five prospective cohort studies were included to perform the meta-analyses.In comparison with lowest adherence to Mediterranean diet,elders with highest adherence to Mediterranean diet were significantly associated with lower risk of frailty in the future(RR = 0.50,95%CI=0.40-0.62,P=0.015).Furthermore,the pooled estimates from three studies performed among participants in western countries showed that higher adherence to Mediterranean diet was associated with a huge reduced risk of frailty.However,one study showed no association between Mediterranean diet and frailty among Asian elders(RR = 1.59,95% CI=1.16-2.18,p = 0.721).Conclusion: A higher adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of frailty in old people.Meanwhile,the benefits may be more obvious among elders from western countries.