Factors associated with diet quality of older adults/Fatores associados a qualidade da dieta de idosos

Evaluate the factors associated with diet quality of older adults from the city of Sao Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 295 older adults receiving care in health care units in Sao Caetano do Sul. Diet quality was assessed using the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index. The associations between the diet quality mean score and the socio-demographic, economic, and anthropometric characteristics and lifestyle and health conditions were verified using multiple linear regression. Lower diet quality mean score were associated with the variables: marital status (widowed or separated) ([beta]=-2.02; p=0.047), retired ([beta]=-4.24; p=0.034), and smoking ([beta]=-8.06; p=0.001); whereas higher diet quality mean score were associated with higher education level (9 years or more) ([beta]=3.49; p=0.013). Individuals with higher education level had better diet quality, and those who were widowed or separated, retired, and smokers had worse diet quality indicating that socio-demographic, economic, and lifestyle are factors that can influence food choice of older adults. Avaliar os fatores associados à qualidade da dieta de idosos de Sao Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo. Ao relacionar as variaveis com o Indice de Qualidade da Dieta Revisado, o estado civil viuvo ou separado ([beta]=-2,02; p=0,047), estar aposentado ([beta]=-4,24; p=0,034) e o habito de fumar ([beta]=-8,06; p=0,001) determinaram indices menores, enquanto que em idosos com maior escolaridade (9 anos ou mais de estudo) as medias observadas foram maiores ([beta]=3,49; p=0,013).