Does food insufficiency in childhood contribute to dementia in later life?

Figures & data

Table 1 Background characteristics of the sample by dementia status

	Total		No dementia		Dementia		χ^2
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Age
Young-old (60–74 years)	1,985	72.5	1,761	88.7	224	11.3	78.19***
Old-old (75–84 years)	624	22.8	489	78.4	135	21.6
Oldest-old (85 plus years)	129	4.7	86	66.7	43	33.3
Sex
Female	1,364	49.7	1,080	79.2	284	20.8	80.47***
Male	1,381	50.3	1,261	91.3	120	8.7
Marital status
Not married	1,217	44.4	974	80.0	243	20.0	48.37***
Now married	1,524	55.6	1,364	89.5	160	10.5
Ethnicity
Non-Bumiputera	839	30.6	781	93.1	58	6.9	58.64***
Malay and Bumiputera	1,906	69.4	1,560	81.8	346	18.2
Education
No formal	1,219	45.1	909	74.6	310	25.4	206.96***
Primary	1,208	44.7	1,126	93.2	82	6.8
Secondary and tertiary	278	10.3	272	97.8	6	2.2
Stratum
Rural	1,183	43.1	951	80.4	232	19.6	39.66***
Urban	1,562	56.9	1,390	89.0	172	11.0
Food insufficiency
No	2,626	95.7	2,250	85.7	376	14.3	7.70**
Yes	119	4.3	91	76.5	28	23.5

Notes:

** P<0.01

*** P<0.001.

Table 2 Results of multiple logistic regression

Variable	B	SE	OR	95% CI for OR
				Lower	Upper
Age
Young-old (60–74 years)
Old-old (75–84 years)	0.63	0.13	1.89***	1.46	2.44
Oldest-old (85 plus years)	1.2	0.22	3.31***	2.15	5.1
Sex (male)	−0.47	0.14	0.62***	0.47	0.82
Marital status (married)	−0.12	0.13	0.89	0.68	1.15
Ethnicity (Malay)	0.88	0.16	2.42***	1.76	3.33
Stratum (rural)	0.28	0.12	1.32*	1.04	1.68
Education (no formal)
Primary	−1.25	0.14	0.29***	0.22	0.38
Secondary and tertiary	−1.89	0.43	0.15***	0.07	0.35
Food insufficiency	0.6	0.24	1.81**	1.13	2.92

Notes:

* P<0.05,

** P<0.01,

*** P<0.001; Hosmer–Lemeshow Test: χ² (8)=10.10, P=0.258.

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; SE, standard error; B, logistic regression coefficient.