Nutritional status of old-aged population of Midnapore (West Bengal)

The present cross-sectional, ex-post-facto study tries to explore the nutritional status of the 200 elderly persons(Males=90 and females=110) of Midnapore Town. In this study, a structured interview schedule and Anthropometric measurements were used to collect the data. The findings of the study revealed that more female participants were found underweight (29.09percent) as compared to male participants (21.11 percent). Though overweight was slightly higher among males (16.7 percent) compared to female participants (14.5 percent), obesity was higher among females. A statistically significant association with nutritional status and differences in gender of participants (÷² =6.939; pd”0.05), Occupational status (÷²=15.553; pd”0.05), and educational status of the participants (÷²= 15.415; pd”0.05) Was also noticed. It was also found from the present findings that female participants were more malnourished (2.23 times) compared to male participants. Based on these findings, it may be concluded that the nutritional status of the participants was not very good and needed social and familial support and care.