Nutritional status among elderly living in the community
Salvà A., Lucas R., March J.

Institut de l'Envelliment. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Grant of: Fundació Viure I Conviure. Obra Social Caixa de Catalunya.

Objective: Our aim is to investigate sociodemographic and health variables associated with risk of malnutrition in a community sample of 2.000 elderly people.

Methods: This is a cross sectional study on a random sample of 2.000 elderly people (65 and older) living in the community in Catalonia (Spain). Participants completed a face-to-face interview which contained the following information: sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables (age, gender, educational level, marital status); perception of health, a list of comorbid conditions; activities of daily living (ADL, IADL) and nutritional status as measured by the Nutritional Status Assessment. All participants signed the inform consent form.

Results: Mean age was 74.4 y.o., 58.4% were women; 59% had primary school and 18.8% reported not having studies but they knew how to read and write; 71% were retired. One quarter of the sample were living alone, with higher percentage (31%) among women (0.001). In relation to health perception, 61% reported their health as good/very good/excellent, being worst among women than men (0.001) and as age increases. Mean number of comorbidities was 4.3. More prevalent comorbid conditions were: musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and hypertension. The majority of elderly (92.7%) had a good nutritional status whereas 7.3 were at risk of malnutrition. Women compared to men had higher risk of malnutrition (10.6% vs 3.8%). Also, the risk increased with increasing age. On the multiple regression analyses, risk of malnutrition was associated with gender (female), being older and having depressive symptoms.

Conclusions: These preliminary results indicate the need to know these variables when caring for elderly, in order to make the most satisfactory intervention.