Malnutrition in free-living elderly in rural south India: prevalence and risk factors

Public Health Nutrition

Aditya Vedantam¹  KR John¹  Vijay Subramanian¹  Nicholas Vijay Rao¹ 

关键词: Malnutrition;    Mini Nutritional Assessment;    Elderly;    India;   

DOI  :  10.1017/S1368980009991674

学科分类：卫生学

来源: Cambridge University Press

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of malnutrition among free-living elderly in a rural population of south India.DesignCross-sectional study. Nutritional status was assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire, which is an eighteen-item nutritional screening instrument used in the elderly.SettingKaniyambadi block, a rural development block in the state of Tamil Nadu, south India.SubjectsCommunity-dwelling elderly (aged 60 years and above).ResultsAs evaluated by the MNA, 14 % of the 227 subjects were malnourished and 49 % were at risk of malnourishment. No significant difference was found between men and women. The majority of the elderly were living with their children, had no income and consumed three meals per day. Older age (P < 0·001), decreased food intake (P < 0·001) and consuming fewer meals (P < 0·001) were independently associated with lower MNA scores.ConclusionsMore than 60 % of the subjects had low MNA scores (

【 授权许可】

Unknown