Adherence to dietary guidelines associated with lower medical service utilization in preschoolers: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the association between dietary guideline adherence and overall, outpatient, and emergency medical service utilization in Taiwanese preschoolers.

METHODS: We selected 614 preschoolers (2-6 years) who had one day of 24-h dietary recall data from the 2013-2016 Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan. The Taiwanese Children Healthy Eating Index (TCHEI) was developed on the basis of Taiwanese Food-Based Dietary Guidelines; it assesses dietary adequacy and eating behavior. Data on the participants' outpatient and emergency medical service utilization were obtained for 2013-2018 from the National Health Insurance Research Database. A multivariable generalized linear model was used to evaluate the association between the TCHEI and medical service utilization for all disease and respiratory diseases.

RESULTS: After adjustment for confounding factors, children aged 2-3 years in the Tertile (T) 2 and T3 groups of the TCHEI exhibited 25% (95% CI 0.69-0.83) and 16% (95% CI 0.77-0.92) lower overall medical visits, respectively. The same pattern was noted in the outpatient and emergency visits for all diseases and respiratory diseases. The children aged 4-6 years in the T2 group exhibited 15% (95% CI 0.80-0.91) and 11% (95% CI 0.82-0.97) lower overall visits and visits for respiratory diseases, respectively. Moreover, preschoolers in the T2 group exhibited lower overall medical expenditures than did those in the T1 group.

CONCLUSIONS: TCHEI score was positively correlated with better nutritional status. Optimal dietary intake associated with lower medical service utilization among Taiwan preschoolers.