Objective   To explore the correlation between dietary patterns and cognitive impairment among elderly residents in communities of Taiyuan city, Shanxi province and to provide evidences for the prevention and control of cognitive dysfunction.

  Methods   Using stratified cluster random sampling, we recruited 600 community residents aged 65 years and older in 6 districts of Taiyuan city for a survey conducted from June 2016 to July 2017. A self-designed questionnaire, Food Frequency Questionnaire and Mini-Mental State Examination were used to collect relevant information of the elderly. Dietary patterns of the elderly were discriminated with factor analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis was adopted to assess associations of dietary patterns with cognitive impairment of the elderly.

  Results   Of the 565 participants with valid information, 230 (40.71%) were identified having cognitive impairment. Factor analyses revealed four dietary patterns (namely patterns of plant, meat, fruit egg-milk, and sweet food) for the participants and the cumulative variance contribution rate of the four dietary patterns was 51.84%. After adjusting for gender, age, education, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical exercise, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, the results of unconditional multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that compared to those with lower scores (in the lowest quartile, Q₁) of meat and fruit egg-milk dietary patterns, the participants with higher scores (in the highest quartile Q₄ or in the higher quartile Q₃) of the two dietary patterns were at a decreased risk of cognitive impairment (meat pattern score of Q₄ vs. Q₁: odds ratio OR = 0.570, 95% confidence interval CI: 0.336 – 0.967; fruit egg-milk pattern of Q₃ vs. Q₁: OR = 0.847, 95% CI: 0.712 – 0.992 and Q₄ vs. Q₁: OR = 0.527, 95% CI: 0.319 – 0.872).

  Conclusion   Higher dietary intake of fruits, eggs, milk and meat are related to a decreased risk of cognitive impairment among community elderly residents in Taiyuan city.