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Benedetta Bartali, RD; Richard D. Semba, MD, MPH; Edward A. Frongillo, PhD; Ravi Varadhan, PhD; Michelle O. Ricks, MS; Caroline S. Blaum, MD, MS; Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD; Jack M. Guralnik, MD, PhD; Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH

Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:2335-2340.

Background  The role of nutritional status in the disablement process is still unclear. The objective of this study was to assess whether low concentrations of nutrients predict the development and course of disability.

Methods  Longitudinal study including community-dwelling women 65 years or older enrolled in the Women's Health and Aging Study I. In total, 643 women were assessed prospectively at 6-month intervals from 1992 to 1995.

Results  Incidence rates of disability in activities of daily living (ADLs) during 3 years of follow-up. Incidence rates in the lowest quartile of each selected nutrient were compared with those in the upper quartiles. The hazard ratios were estimated from Cox models adjusted for potential confounders. Women in the lowest quartile of serum concentrations of vitamin B₆ (hazard ratio [HR], 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.67), vitamin B₁₂ (HR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.12-1.74), and selenium (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.12-1.71) had significantly higher risk of disability in ADLs during 3 years of follow-up compared with women in the upper 3 quartiles.

Conclusions  Low serum concentrations of vitamins B₆ and B₁₂ and selenium predict subsequent disability in ADLs in older women living in the community. Nutritional status is one of the key factors to be considered in the development of strategies aimed at preventing or delaying the disablement process.

Author Affiliations: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (Ms Bartali and Dr Frongillo); Department of Ophthalmology (Dr Semba) and the Center on Aging and Health, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (Drs Varadhan and Fried and Ms Ricks), Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Md; Department of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Dr Blaum); Longitudinal Studies Section, Clinical Research Branch, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore (Dr Ferrucci); and Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md (Dr Guralnik).

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