Nutritional assessment of institutionalized elderly with different instruments

• Autor(a) principal: Nabuco FÉLIX, Luciana
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Talá de SOUZA, Elizabeth Maria
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Nutrição
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/nutricao/article/view/9509
• topic: Anthropometry; Aging; Health of institutionalized elderly; Antropometria; Envelhecimento; Saúde do idoso institucionalizado

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to assess the nutritional risk of institutionalized elderly with different nutritional assessment tools. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study with 37 seniors aged 60 to 100 year living in a long-stay Institution of the Federal District. The assessment included different anthropometric measurements such as body mass index, arm circumference, calf circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and weight gain, total lymphocyte count and administration of the Mini Nutritional Assessment. ResultsArm circumference revealed that 36.1% of the elderly were undernourished, 16.7% were overweight and obese and 47.2% were normal weight. Body mass index revealed 47.9% to be normal weight, a smaller proportion (27.0%) to be underweight and another 27.0% to be overweight. Most of the females (86.4%) and the majority of the males (57.1%) were at risk of cardiovascular diseases according to their waist circumferences. However, when this same risk was assessed by the waist-to-hip ratio, the proportion offemales at risk was significantly higher (95.5%). The percentage of the males at risk according to the same parameter was 42.9%. Immunedepletion was found in 46.7% of the males and 66.7% of the females. The nutritional status determined by the Mini Nutritional Assessment showed that 50.0% of the women and 40.0% of the men were at risk of malnutrition. If nutritional risk was determined by having at least one anthropometric indicator below the normal range, most of the elderly (83.8%) were at risk. The Mini Nutritional Assessment showed a similar trend: 75.7% of subjects were at nutritional risk. ConclusionIn the institution under study, a significant majority of the elderly of both genders were at nutritional risk according to anthropometric indicators or the Mini Nutritional Assessment.