Evaluation of the dietary quality and nutritional status of elderly people using the Nutrition Quotient for Elderly (NQ-E) in Seoul

Purpose: This study evaluated the dietary quality and nutritional status of elderly people using the Nutrition Quotient for Elderly (NQ-E). Methods: The participants were 204 elderly people over 65 years of age (38 men and, 166 women) in Seoul. The dietary information was analyzed using a questionnaire of NQ-E, which consisted of 19 checklist items, and 24-recall test data. The NQ-E scores and its four factors, including ‘balance’, ‘moderation’, ‘diversity’, and ‘dietary behavior’ factors, were calculated according to general characteristics of the subjects. The subjects were divided into the ‘monitoring needed group’ (62 > NQ-E score) and the ‘good group’ (62 ≤ NQ-E score) according to their NQ-E score. Results: The mean NQ-E score of the total subjects was 61.9, which was within the mediumhigh grade. The scores of balance, moderation, and dietary behavior factors were within the medium-high grade, while the score of the diversity factor was within the medium-low grade. The NQ-E score was 54.8 in the monitoring needed group and 69.3 in the good group. For the score of the diversity factor, the elderly living alone had a significantly lower score than the score for the elderly living with a spouse. The female subjects showed significantly higher scores of moderation and dietary behavior factors than did the male subjects. The daily intakes of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin C and calcium in the monitoring needed group were significantly lower than those in the good group. The nutrient adequacy ratios (NAR) of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin C and calcium in the monitoring needed group were significantly lower compared to the scores of the good group. The indexes of nutritional quality (INQ) of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin C, calcium and potassium were less than 1 for all the subjects. The monitoring needed group had a significantly lower consumption of total foods, vegetables and mushrooms than the good group. As a result, the nutritional status of the monitoring needed group was significantly lower than that of the good group. Conclusion: The results of this study show that NQ-E would be a useful tool for assessing J Nutr Health. 2020 Feb;53(1):68-82 https://doi.org/10.4163/jnh.2020.53.1.68 eISSN 2288-3959