Association between carotene intake and hospital-acquired pneumonia in elderly men: a cross-sectional study

Elderly inpatients are at high risk for hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP). The association between dietary carotene and HAP remains unclear.

This cross-sectional study included 165 patients aged ≥ 80 years. Dietary carotene intake was assessed via 72-hour recall and food weighing, analyzed using the China Food Composition Table. Based on tertiles of dietary carotene intake, patients were stratified into low- (T1, < 713.3 µg/day; n = 55), medium- (T2, 713.4-2101.4 µg/day; n = 54), and high-intake groups (T3, ≥ 2101.6 µg/day; n = 56). Multivariable logistic regression, restricted cubic splines, threshold analysis and subgroup analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between dietary carotene intake and HAP.

A total of 165 hospitalized senior patients aged 80 years or older were included, with an average age of 89.7 ± 9.8 years. Of these, 30.9% (51/165) had HAP. After adjusting for confounding factors (age, BMI, co-morbidities, energy intake, etc.), the risk of pneumonia in the moderate dietary carotene intake group (T2) was 80% lower than that in the lowest dietary carotene intake group (T1) (OR = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.06-0.71). Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed a nonlinear association between carotene intake and HAP risk (P for nonlinearity = 0.003). The inflection point analysis indicated a significant reduction in pneumonia risk with increasing carotene intake below 1273.7 µg/d. Beyond this threshold, however, the dose-response curve plateaued, suggesting no additional benefit from higher intake. Subgroup analyses (by diabetes, CKD, nutrition risk) showed consistent results.

Increased dietary carotenoids intake was inversely associated with the prevalence of HAP, demonstrating a dose-response relationship below a threshold of 1273.7 µg/d.