Prevalence of undernutrition in a long-term care facility in Qatar.

摘要

The nutritional status of 130 Qatari patients aged 65-90 yr who were residing in a long-term care facility for 6 months was examined. Admission wt. was not measured for 49.2% of the subjects. Of those whose wt. was measured at admission, assessment at 6 months indicated that 21.3% had lost more than 10% of their admission wt., 38.9% were under the 5th percentile of body mass index (BMI), 39.8% had a BMI <21, 27.1% had albumin level <34 g/l and 18.6% had total cholesterol <140 mg/dl. The study showed a high prevalence of undernutrition among these long-term care residents and indicated that appropriate nutritional assessment and nutrition care were not fully implemented during their stay in the facility.