1Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
2Professor Biostatistics, Dept. of Community Medicine, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
3Professor and Head, Dept. of Community Medicine, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
*Corresponding Author Email: ohri7puneet@rediffmail.com
Online published on 14 January, 2019.
Number of elderly persons is rapidly increasing worldwide, mostly in developing countries. The elderly are at increased risk of nutritional inadequacy which, if detected in time, can be reversed. A comprehensive nutritional assessment tool called Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) has been confirmed to detect malnutrition in the elderly with reasonable accuracy.
To detect the prevalence and correlates of malnutrition in the elderly.
A cross-sectional study was carried out in urban field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, SGRRIM&HS, Dehradun using a pre designed, pre tested questionnaire filled by trained health teams. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 23.
Prevalence of malnutrition in elderly was found to be 32.2% which is significantly associated with changes in food intake and weight over past three months, mobility, neuropsychological problems, acute disease/psychological stress and BMI.
Malnutrition in the elderly can be managed with a multi-disciplinary approach that treats the pathology as well as uses social and dietary interventions.
Nutritional status, Elderly, Mini nutritional assessment
