Association between tea drinking and disability levels in older Chinese adults: a longitudinal analysis

Yinghui Ma; Yuying Zhu; Dandan Hong; Haiyue Zhao; Lei Li

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1233664

Association between tea drinking and disability levels in older Chinese adults: a longitudinal analysis

Front Nutr. 2023 Oct 31:10:1233664. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1233664. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yinghui Ma^{1

2}, Yuying Zhu¹, Dandan Hong¹, Haiyue Zhao¹, Lei Li^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics and Management, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, China.
² School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
³ College of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Research Academy for Rural Revitalization of Zhejiang, Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Objective: As the global population ages, disability among the elderly presents unprecedented challenges for healthcare systems. However, limited research has examined whether dietary interventions like tea consumption may alleviate and prevent disability in older adults. As an important dietary therapy, the health benefits of tea drinking have gained recognition across research disciplines. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between tea drinking habits and disability levels in the elderly Chinese population.

Methods: Leveraging data from the 2008 to 2018 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, we disaggregated tea drinking frequency and activities of daily living (ADL) measures and deployed fixed-effect ordered logit models to examine the tea-disability association for the first time. We statistically adjusted for potential confounders and conducted stratified analyses to assess heterogeneity across subpopulations.

Results: Multivariable fixed-effect ordered logistic regression suggested tea drinking has protective effects against ADL disability. However, only daily tea drinking was associated with lower risks of basic activities of daily living (BADL) disability [odds ratio (OR) = 0.61; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.41-0.92] and lower levels of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disability (OR = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.64-0.95). Stratified analyses indicated heterogeneous effects across age and income groups. Daily tea drinking protected against BADL (OR = 0.26 and OR = 0.28) and IADL disability (OR = 0.48 and OR = 0.45) for adults over 83 years old and high-income households, respectively.

Conclusion: We found that drinking tea almost daily was protective against disability in elderly people, warranting further research into optimal dosages. Future studies should utilize more rigorous causal inference methods and control for confounders.

Keywords: BADL; IADL; disability levels; elderly; tea drinking.

Grants and funding

This study was one of mid-term results of the humanities and social science youth project funded by the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China, named “Influence Mechanism and Empirical Research of Dealers’ Pre-sales Guidance on Pesticide Use Behavior Under the Disregard of Information Inattention” (21YJC790086). This study was also funded by the Jiangsu University Philosophy and Social Science Research Project “Climate Change, Food Production and Food Security in China” (2019SJA1932); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177463); major Humanities and Social Sciences Research Projects in Zhejiang higher education institutions (2023QN096); and the Research Development Fund Project of Zhejiang A & F University (W20220182); and the Major Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Universities in Jiangsu Province (2023SJZD010).