Evidence mapPaperPMID 42019129Full record

ArticleThe journal of nutrition, health & aging2026

Association of dietary patterns with mortality and life expectancy by frailty status: Evidence from the UK Biobank.

Weizheng Kong, Xiaolin Hu, Kai Zhang, Yi Zhang, Ruiyuan Tian, Yurun Peng, Lirong Chai, Weijing Wang, Dongfeng Zhang, Junning Fan

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Article in The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

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10 authors.

Weizheng KongDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Xiaolin HuDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Kai ZhangDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Yi ZhangDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Ruiyuan TianDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Yurun PengDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Lirong ChaiDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Weijing WangDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Dongfeng ZhangDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Junning FanDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China. Electronic address: fanjunning219@163.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND &

aimsWhether healthy dietary patterns can reduce mortality and extend life expectancy across different frailty status remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the associations of four dietary patterns with mortality and life expectancy both in the overall population and by frail status.

methodsWe included 208,379 participants from the UK Biobank. Dietary intake was collected by the 24-h dietary recall assessments. Dietary patterns were assessed using previously established indices: alternative Mediterranean Diet (aMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Plant-based Diet Index (PDI), and Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI). Frailty status was defined by Fried's phenotype and classified into robust, prefrailty, and frailty. Cox proportional hazards models and flexible parametric survival models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between dietary patterns and mortality and life expectancy.

resultsAfter a median follow-up of 13.42 years, 12,571 deaths occurred. Participants with the highest adherence to a healthy pattern exhibited reduced all-cause mortality (HR ranged from 0.76 to 0.88) and longer life expectancy (years of life gained ranged from 1.84 to 3.16). The protective effects were consistent across different frailty status, and a more substantial prolongation of life was observed in frail individuals. Taking aMED as an example, the HRs and 95% CIs of mortality for the highest tertile of adherence versus the lowest were 0.80 (0.75-0.86) in robust individuals, 0.76 (0.70-0.82) in pre-frail individuals, and 0.65 (0.50-0.86) in frail individuals, and life expectancy gains were 2.45 (2.03-2.87), 3.27 (2.72-3.82), and 5.57 (3.19-7.95) years, respectively. Women had a higher overall life expectancy than men, whereas men showed greater life expectancy gains from dietary adherence.

conclusionHigher adherence to aMED, DASH, PDI, and PHDI could reduce all-cause mortality and extend life expectancy regardless of frailty status.

Indexed as

DietDiet, HealthyFrail ElderlyFrailtyLife ExpectancyMortalityAgedAged, 80 and overBiological Specimen BanksDietary Approaches To Stop HypertensionDiet, MediterraneanDiet, Plant-BasedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedDietary patternFrailtyLife expectancyMortalityUK Biobank

Identifiers

PMID42019129
PMCPMC13125167

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.