Skip to main content

Table 3 Relative risks (95% confidence interval) of frailty according to subcategories of milk, yogurt, and cheese among 85,280 women aged ≥ 60y in the Nurses’ Health Study

From: Specific dairy foods and risk of frailty in older women: a prospective cohort study

Low-fat milk

Dairy categories

P value

Per serving/d increment

 < 1/wk

1/wk

2 to 4 /wk

5 to 6 /wk

1/d

 ≥ 2/d

  

Participants, n

18,024

9730

23,724

10,730

16,997

6075

  

Person-yr

245,473

162,295

413,756

184,349

281,619

85,823

  

Frailty cases, n

2467

1851

5023

2206

3438

927

  

Age-adjusted

1.00

1.01 (0.95, 1.08)

1.02 (0.97, 1.07)

1.00 (0.95, 1.06)

1.04 (0.99, 1.10)

1.01 (0.94, 1.09)

0.34

1.02 (0.99, 1.04)

Multivariable modela

1.00

0.98 (0.92, 1.04)

0.96 (0.91, 1.01)

0.94 (0.88, 0.99)

0.95 (0.90, 1.00)

0.96 (0.89, 1.03)

0.16

0.99 (0.97, 1.02)

Multivariable modelb

1.00

0.99 (0.93, 1.06)

0.99 (0.94, 1.04)

0.98 (0.93, 1.04)

1.00 (0.95, 1.06)

1.01 (0.93, 1.09)

0.70

1.01 (0.99, 1.04)

Whole milk

 < 1/wk

1/wk

2 to 4 /wk

5 to 6 /wk

 ≥ 1/d

   

 Participants, n

64,384

8316

8546

1683

2351

   

 Person-yr

1,081,896

132,340

116,060

20,374

22,645

   

 Frailty cases, n

12,834

1548

1160

185

185

   

 Age-adjusted

1.00

1.08 (1.02, 1.14)

1.01 (0.95, 1.08)

1.02 (0.88, 1.17)

1.17 (1.01, 1.35)

 

0.03

1.07 (0.99, 1.15)

 Multivariable modela

1.00

1.08 (1.03, 1.14)

1.04 (0.98, 1.10)

1.07 (0.93, 1.24)

1.24 (1.07, 1.43)

 

 < 0.001

1.12 (1.03, 1.20)

 Multivariable modelb

1.00

1.03 (0.98, 1.09)

0.97 (0.92, 1.04)

0.98 (0.85, 1.14)

1.15 (0.99, 1.33)

 

0.41

1.01 (0.93, 1.09)

Plain yogurt

Never

 < 1/wk

1/wk

2 to 4 /wk

 ≥ 5/wk

   

 Participants, n

45,147

19,278

4937

7839

2501

   

 Person-yr

610,104

460,222

97,819

134,140

30,734

   

 Frailty cases, n

6260

6601

1240

1506

242

   

 Age-adjusted

1.00

0.98 (0.94, 1.01)

0.90 (0.85, 0.96)

0.95 (0.90, 1.01)

0.90 (0.79, 1.02)

 

0.01

0.89 (0.81, 0.97)

 Multivariable modela

1.00

0.95 (0.92, 0.99)

0.88 (0.83, 0.94)

0.92 (0.86, 0.97)

0.89 (0.78, 1.01)

 

 < 0.001

0.85 (0.78, 0.93)

 Multivariable modelb

1.00

1.00 (0.96, 1.04)

0.96 (0.90, 1.03)

1.02 (0.96, 1.08)

1.01 (0.89, 1.15)

 

0.69

1.01 (0.92, 1.10)

Sweetened yogurt

Never

 < 1/wk

1/wk

2 to 4 /wk

 ≥ 5/wk

   

 Participants, n

50,587

20,012

3622

4472

1009

   

 Person-yr

696,624

484,291

67,644

73,079

11,381

   

 Frailty cases, n

7363

6916

843

650

77

   

 Age-adjusted

1.00

0.96 (0.93, 0.99)

0.90 (0.84, 0.97)

0.78 (0.72, 0.84)

0.85 (0.68, 1.07)

 

 < 0.001

0.64 (0.55, 0.74)

 Multivariable modela

1.00

0.99 (0.96, 1.03)

1.02 (0.95, 1.10)

0.94 (0.86, 1.02)

1.07 (0.86, 1.34)

 

0.50

0.96 (0.84, 1.10)

 Multivariable modelb

1.00

1.01 (0.98, 1.05)

1.06 (0.99, 1.14)

0.98 (0.90, 1.06)

1.13 (0.90, 1.42)

 

0.63

1.04 (0.91, 1.20)

Low-fat cheese

 < 1/wk

1/wk

2 to 4 /wk

5 to 6 /wk

 ≥ 1/d

   

 Participants, n

48,095

20,676

14,780

1173

556

   

 Person-yr

723,330

364,472

260,337

18,100

7075

   

 Frailty cases, n

7811

4428

3352

245

76

   

 Age-adjusted

1.00

1.03 (0.99, 1.07)

1.08 (1.03, 1.12)

1.18 (1.04, 1.34)

1.09 (0.87, 1.38)

 

 < 0.001

1.17 (1.08, 1.28)

 Multivariable modela

1.00

1.00 (0.96, 1.03)

1.02 (0.98, 1.06)

1.14 (1.00, 1.30)

1.12 (0.89, 1.40)

 

0.06

1.06 (0.97, 1.15)

 Multivariable modelb

1.00

1.05 (1.01, 1.09)

1.11 (1.06, 1.16)

1.26 (1.11, 1.44)

1.21 (0.96, 1.53)

 

 < 0.001

1.26 (1.15, 1.37)

High-fat cheese

 < 1/wk

1/wk

2 to 4 /wk

5 to 6 /wk

 ≥ 1/d

   

 Participants, n

11,915

19,595

42,254

7219

4297

   

 Person-yr

218,197

359,160

648,107

94,930

52,920

   

 Frailty cases, n

2553

4472

7358

969

560

   

 Age-adjusted

1.00

1.11 (1.05, 1.16)

1.13 (1.08, 1.18)

1.12 (1.04, 1.21)

1.22 (1.11, 1.34)

 

 < 0.001

1.12 (1.06, 1.18)

 Multivariable modela

1.00

1.07 (1.02, 1.12)

1.08 (1.03, 1.13)

1.07 (0.99, 1.15)

1.19 (1.08, 1.31)

 

0.003

1.09 (1.03, 1.16)

 Multivariable modelb

1.00

1.05 (1.00, 1.10)

1.04 (0.99, 1.09)

1.01 (0.93, 1.09)

1.12 (1.02, 1.23)

 

0.18

1.04 (0.98, 1.10)

  1. aCox regression model adjusted for: age (months), calendar time (4-y intervals), census tract income (< $45,000, $45,000–$59,999, $60,000–$74,999, $75,000–$99,999, or ≥ $100,000/y), education (registered nursing degrees, bachelor’s degree, masters or doctorate degree), baseline body mass index (< 25.0, 25.0–29.9, ≥ 30.0 kg/m2), smoking status (never, past, and current 1–14, 15–24, and ≥ 25 cigarettes/day), alcohol intake (0, 1.0–4.9, 5.0–14.9, or ≥ 15.0 g/d), energy intake (quintiles of kcal/d) and medication use (aspirin, postmenopausal hormone therapy, diuretics, β-blockers, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, other blood pressure medication, lipid lowering medication, insulin, and oral hypoglycemic medication)
  2. bAdjustment as in the previous model and additionally adjusted for adherence to the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (quartiles). Low-fat milk, whole milk, plain yogurt, sweetened yogurt, low-fat cheese, and high-fat cheese were mutually adjusted for each other (all in categories)
Back to article page

BMC Medicine

ISSN: 1741-7015

Contact us