Nafiseh Rashidi Pour Fard - Shaheed Motahari Hospital, Fooladshahr, Isfahan, Iran
Fahimeh Haghighatdoost - Food Security Research Center, Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, AND Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University

Background and Aim: Assessing single nutrients and frailty failed to take in consideration the interactions between nutrients. An increasing number of investigations in recent years are evaluating the association of dietary patterns and frailty. This study aimed to systematically review current literature and perform meta-analysis to summarize the association of healthy dietary patterns and frailty.Methods: Three electronic databases were searched for epidemiological studies published up to April 2018 that assessed the association of dietary patterns and frailty. Pooled effect sizes of eligible studies and its corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using random-effects models. In the presence of publication bias, trim and fill analysis was conducted to adjust the pooled effect.Results: A total of 13 studies with 15 effect sizes were identified. Results from 9 cohort and cross-sectional studies were included in the meta-analysis. Higher adherence to the healthy dietary pattern was associated with lower odds of frailty (OR: 0.69; 95%: 0.57, 0.84; P<0.0001; I2=92.1% and P for heterogeneity<0.0001). Adjustment for publication bias showed a small contribution of the study effect to the original results (OR: 0.694; 95% CI: 0.573, 0.840).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that a diet high in fruit, vegetables and whole grains may be associated with reduced risk of frailty. Nevertheless, additional longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the association of dietary patterns with frailty.

dietary patterns; frailty; systematic review; meta-analysis