Financial Strain Is Associated with Malnutrition Risk in Community-Dwelling Older Women.

Laura J Samuel,Carlos O Weiss,Sarah L Szanton,Richard D Semba,Linda P Fried,Roland J Thorpe

doi:10.1155/2012/696518

Laura J Samuel, Carlos O Weiss + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/696518

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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between financial strain, or difficulty acquiring necessities, and malnutrition risk in a community dwelling sample of frail and nonfrail women aged 70-79 in the Women's Health and Aging Study (n = 679). Malnutrition risk was measured with a modified version of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF) and defined as a score <11, financial strain was measured by (1) sufficiency of money on a monthly basis and (2) adequacy of income for food, and income was measured by ordinal categories. Mean (SD) modified MNA-SF score was 12.2 (1.80), and 14.7% of women had malnutrition risk. Women who usually did not have enough money to make ends meet had more than four-fold increased odds of malnutrition risk (OR = 4.54; 95% CI: 2.26, 9.14) compared to their counterparts who had some money left over each month. This was only slightly attenuated after control for income and education, (OR = 4.08; 95% CI: 1.95, 8.52) remaining robust. These results show an association between financial strain and malnutrition risk, independent of income, in older women. Self-reported financial strain may be preferable to income as a screener for malnutrition risk in older adults in clinical and research settings.

Highlights

Malnutrition, which is a risk factor for disability and mortality, [1, 2] poses a burden for community dwelling older adults, those of low socioeconomic status
Our findings show that financial strain may be more informative than income as an indicator of nutritional risk in older adults
The study showed that financial strain, when measured either by lacking money for food or having difficulty making ends meet, was associated with increased odds of malnutrition risk in older adults even after control for two traditional socioeconomic measures: income and education

Summary

Introduction

Malnutrition, which is a risk factor for disability and mortality, [1, 2] poses a burden for community dwelling older adults, those of low socioeconomic status. Exact rates of this often undiagnosed condition are difficult to estimate in this population [3,4,5], but an estimated 9% of community dwelling older adults are malnourished and up to 45% have malnutrition risk and should have clinical diagnostic evaluation [6]. Many older adults whose income is above the poverty level still lack regular access to food [14]. Socioeconomic measures in older adults should consider the inadequacy of income to obtain basic necessities, along with absolute income [18]

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