Estimates of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition among the elderly (≥60 years) in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundDeath is inevitable, but healthy ageing is possible with proper nutrition and health care. This systematic review and meta-analysis conducted to estimate the nation-wide prevalence and malnutrition and risk of malnutrition among the elderly in India. MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane`s library, Google Scholar were searched for the articles reporting the prevalence of malnutrition among the elderly using MNA or MNA-SF tools. The study published between the year 2010–2019 were included. Sensitivity analysis, quality assessment was done using standard methods. The publication biasness was also determined using Doi plot and LFK index. The pooled prevalence was reported with effect size and considering the random effect model and quality effect model. The subgroup analysis was also conducted for gender, study setting, study area and study regions. ResultsThe prevalence of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition among the elderly was 18.29% and 48.17% respectively. The prevalence of malnutrition was higher among female (16.67%), clinic setting (28.87%), urban areas (19.29%) and northern region (27.37%) of India. This trend differs with the prevalence of risk of malnutrition. Meta-regression analysis shows a region-based prediction of malnutrition and setting based prediction of risk of malnutrition. ConclusionThe prevalence of malnutrition was not considerably higher among the elderly population but about half of the elderly population were at risk of malnutrition. This trend differs with the gender, study setting, study area and study region. Additional study using other nutritional assessment tools were needed. Intervention studies among the elderly were recommended.