Association Between Exposure to Age Discrimination and Nutritional Risk: Findings from a Nationwide Sample of Older Adults in South Korea
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Sample
2.2. Age Discrimination
2.3. Nutritional Risk
2.4. Covariates
2.5. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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| Overall | Dimensions of Age Discrimination Experienced | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | One | Two | Three or More | ||
| n = 9951 | n = 7333 | n = 1537 | n = 598 | n = 483 | |
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 3824 (38.4%) | 2807 (38.3%) | 583 (37.9%) | 238 (39.8%) | 196 (40.6%) |
| Female | 6127 (61.6%) | 4526 (61.7%) | 954 (62.1%) | 360 (60.2%) | 287 (59.4%) |
| Age (years) | |||||
| Mean (SD) | 74.0 (6.8) | 74.2 (6.7) | 73.6 (6.7) | 73.7 (6.8) | 73.6 (7.1) |
| Educational level | |||||
| No education | 1435 (14.4%) | 1088 (14.8%) | 208 (13.5%) | 76 (12.7%) | 63 (13.0%) |
| Elementary school | 2920 (29.3%) | 2212 (30.2%) | 412 (26.8%) | 175 (29.3%) | 121 (25.1%) |
| Middle school | 2114 (21.2%) | 1562 (21.3%) | 332 (21.6%) | 133 (22.2%) | 87 (18.0%) |
| High school | 2860 (28.7%) | 1977 (27.0%) | 515 (33.5%) | 185 (30.9%) | 183 (37.9%) |
| College or higher | 622 (6.3%) | 494 (6.7%) | 70 (4.6%) | 29 (4.8%) | 29 (6.0%) |
| Income level | |||||
| Lowest | 2107 (21.2%) | 1699 (23.2%) | 250 (16.3%) | 83 (13.9%) | 75 (15.5%) |
| Low | 2167 (21.8%) | 1645 (22.4%) | 321 (20.9%) | 116 (19.4%) | 85 (17.6%) |
| Medium | 2026 (20.4%) | 1467 (20.0%) | 335 (21.8%) | 119 (19.9%) | 105 (21.7%) |
| High | 1910 (19.2%) | 1384 (18.9%) | 317 (20.6%) | 121 (20.2%) | 88 (18.2%) |
| Highest | 1741 (17.5%) | 1138 (15.5%) | 314 (20.4%) | 159 (26.6%) | 130 (26.9%) |
| Employment status | |||||
| Employed | 3942 (39.6%) | 2846 (38.8%) | 634 (41.2%) | 257 (43.0%) | 205 (42.4%) |
| Unemployed | 6009 (60.4%) | 4487 (61.2%) | 903 (58.8%) | 341 (57.0%) | 278 (57.6%) |
| Functional limitation | |||||
| Yes | 1648 (16.6%) | 1087 (14.8%) | 308 (20.0%) | 125 (20.9%) | 128 (26.5%) |
| No | 8303 (83.4%) | 6246 (85.2%) | 1229 (80.0%) | 473 (79.1%) | 355 (73.5%) |
| Depressive symptoms | |||||
| Yes | 7893 (79.3%) | 6021 (82.1%) | 1149 (74.8%) | 422 (70.6%) | 301 (62.3%) |
| No | 2058 (20.7%) | 1312 (17.9%) | 388 (25.2%) | 176 (29.4%) | 182 (37.7%) |
| K-MMSE~2 | |||||
| Mean (SD) | 24.5 (4.8) | 24.8 (4.4) | 23.6 (5.8) | 23.7 (5.2) | 23.6 (5.0) |
| Body mass index | |||||
| Mean (SD) | 23.6 (2.6) | 23.7 (2.7) | 23.6 (2.5) | 23.4 (2.5) | 23.7 (2.5) |
| Nutritional risk | |||||
| Low risk | 4243 (42.6%) | 3266 (44.5%) | 602 (39.2%) | 220 (36.8%) | 155 (32.1%) |
| Moderate risk | 4463 (44.8%) | 3253 (44.4%) | 706 (45.9%) | 279 (46.7%) | 225 (46.6%) |
| High risk | 1245 (12.5%) | 814 (11.1%) | 229 (14.9%) | 99 (16.6%) | 103 (21.3%) |
| Unadjusted Model | Fully Adjusted Model | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nutritional Risk Outcomes | Nutritional Risk Outcomes | |||
| Moderate Risk | High Risk | Moderate Risk | High Risk | |
| OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | |
| Age discrimination | ||||
| None | Reference | Reference | Reference | Reference |
| One dimension | 1.12 (1.00–1.26) | 1.50 (1.28–1.77) | 1.17 (1.04–1.32) | 1.40 (1.17–1.69) |
| Two dimensions | 1.16 (0.98–1.38) | 1.79 (1.43–2.25) | 1.20 (1.00–1.43) | 1.46 (1.13–1.89) |
| Three or more dimensions | 1.51 (1.25–1.82) | 2.67 (2.11–3.39) | 1.53 (1.25–1.88) | 1.89 (1.44–2.48) |
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Baek, S.-U.; Yoon, J.-H. Association Between Exposure to Age Discrimination and Nutritional Risk: Findings from a Nationwide Sample of Older Adults in South Korea. Nutrients 2025, 17, 3643. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17233643
Baek S-U, Yoon J-H. Association Between Exposure to Age Discrimination and Nutritional Risk: Findings from a Nationwide Sample of Older Adults in South Korea. Nutrients. 2025; 17(23):3643. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17233643
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaek, Seong-Uk, and Jin-Ha Yoon. 2025. "Association Between Exposure to Age Discrimination and Nutritional Risk: Findings from a Nationwide Sample of Older Adults in South Korea" Nutrients 17, no. 23: 3643. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17233643
APA StyleBaek, S.-U., & Yoon, J.-H. (2025). Association Between Exposure to Age Discrimination and Nutritional Risk: Findings from a Nationwide Sample of Older Adults in South Korea. Nutrients, 17(23), 3643. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17233643

