Association of plant-based dietary patterns with depression and anxiety symptoms in Chinese older adults: A nationwide study

Background: The associations of plant-based dietary patterns with depression and anxiety symptoms among older adults have not been extensively studied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine these associations in Chinese older adults. Methods: Data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) was employed in the present study. The simplified food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI). The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-10 (CES-D-10) was used to evaluate depression symptoms, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) was used to assess anxiety symptoms. This study employed logistic regression and linear regression to examine the associations between plant-based dietary patterns and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results: This study included 11,971 older adults, with a mean age of 83.23 +/- 11.10 years. The results indicated that PDI and hPDI were negative associated with depression symptoms (adjusted beta -0.09, 95 % CI -0.11, -0.07) (adjusted beta -0.09, 95 % CI -0.11, -0.07) and anxiety symptoms (adjusted beta -0.03, 95 % CI -0.04, -0.02) (adjusted beta -0.04, 95 % CI -0.05, -0.02), while uPDI was positive associated with depression symptoms (adjusted beta 0.09, 95 % CI 0.07, 0.11) and anxiety symptoms (adjusted beta 0.04, 95 % CI 0.03, 0.05). Conclusions: The findings from this study have the potential to promote healthy dietary patterns in older adults, and may have implications for the prevention and management of depression and anxiety in this population.