Geriatric Nutrition: Elderly at Risk of Malnutrition in Old Age Homes

摘要

"Background: Nutrition influences the health and functional ability. Older persons are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition, which will affect their health and functional ability. Also, Nutritional problems are the root cause of the major communicable and non – communicable diseases. Objectives: The study conducted to assess the nutritional status of the elderly, to describe the functional ability of the elderly and to assess the vision, hearing and mobility of the elderly. Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out in the old age homes of Davangere district over a period of 1 year among 105 elderly living in the old age homes. Nutritional status was assessed using Mini Nutritional Assessment scale. Functional ability was measured by Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. Results: Out of 105 elderly, 61% were found to be at risk of malnu-trition and 24% were malnourished. Visual impairment, hearing impairment and mobility was affected in 30.5%, 20% and 39% of the elderly respectively. There was a statistically significant association between age and Nutritional status of the elderly. Conclusion: From our study, we conclude that Majority of the elderly were either at risk or were malnourished. Majority of the el-derly had one of the functional inabilities.".