Relationship between Breakfast Skipping and Obesity among Elderly: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the HEIJO-KYO Study.

OBJECTIVE

Breakfast skipping is reported to be associated with obesity in children and younger populations; however, few studies report the association among elderly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between breakfast skipping and obesity prevalence among elderly.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Community-dwelling elderly in Nara, Japan.

PARTICIPANTS

1052 elderly participants (mean age: 71.6 years).

MEASUREMENTS

Obesity and breakfast skipping were defined as body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2 and skipping breakfast one or more times per week, respectively.

RESULTS

Two hundred and seventy-two participants (25.9%) were classified as obese and forty-one (3.9%) were as breakfast skippers. Obesity prevalence was significantly higher in breakfast skippers than in breakfast eaters (43.9% vs. 25.1%, P = 0.007). In multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders (age, sex and alcohol consumption), breakfast skippers showed significantly higher odds ratio (OR) for obesity than breakfast eaters (OR, 2.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-4.27; P = 0.015), which continued to be significant after further adjustment for socioeconomic status. In addition, breakfast skippers showed significantly lower daily potassium (P <0.001) and dietary fibre intakes (P = 0.001) and lower subjective physical activity (P = 0.035) than breakfast eaters.

CONCLUSIONS

Breakfast skipping was significantly associated with obesity among elderly. Poor diet quality and physical inactivity may be potential intermediators underlying the association between breakfast skipping and obesity.