Does food insufficiency in childhood contribute to dementia in later life?

Despite several studies attempting to identify the risk factors for dementia, little is known about the impact of childhood living conditions on cognitive function in later life. The present study aims to examine the unique contribution of food insufficiency in childhood to dementia in old age. Data...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical interventions in aging 2015-01, Vol.10, p.49-53
Main Authors: Momtaz, Yadollah Abolfathi, Haron, Sharifah Azizah, Hamid, Tengku Aizan, Ibrahim, Rahimah, Masud, Jariah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Analysis
Child
Child malnutrition
Child Nutrition Disorders - complications
Child Nutrition Disorders - epidemiology
Childhood
Cognitive ability
Complications and side effects
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dementia
Dementia - diagnosis
Dementia - epidemiology
Dementia - etiology
Dementia - prevention & control
Diabetes
Education
Ethnicity
Female
Food
food insufficiency
Food shortages
Geriatric Assessment
Geriatrics
Health aspects
Humans
Hypertension
Industrialized nations
Intelligence Tests
Keywords: aged
Malaysia
Malaysia - epidemiology
Male
Malnutrition
Mental depression
Mental health
Middle Aged
Old age cognition
Older people
Original Research
Prevalence
Public health
Risk Factors
Social Conditions - statistics & numerical data
Sociodemographics
Socioeconomic Factors
Time
Welfare
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Summary:Despite several studies attempting to identify the risk factors for dementia, little is known about the impact of childhood living conditions on cognitive function in later life. The present study aims to examine the unique contribution of food insufficiency in childhood to dementia in old age. Data for this study of 2,745 older Malaysians aged 60 years and older was obtained from a national survey entitled "Mental Health and Quality of Life of Older Malaysians" conducted from 2003 through 2005 using a cross-sectional design. The Geriatric Mental State-Automated Geriatric Examination for Computer Assisted Taxonomy was used to measure dementia. A multiple binary logistic regression using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 was conducted to assess the unique effect of food insufficiency in childhood on developing dementia in old age. A notably higher prevalence of dementia was found in respondents who indicated they had experienced food insufficiency in childhood than in their food-sufficient counterparts (23.5% versus 14.3%). The findings from multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that food insufficiency in childhood would independently increase the risk of developing dementia in old age by 81%, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors (odds ratio =1.81, 95% confidence interval 1.13-2.92, P
ISSN:1178-1998
1176-9092
1178-1998
DOI:10.2147/CIA.S69220