Abstract
Nutrition is a significant factor in determining the health of older people because it affects almost all organs and systems, which could lead to varieties of diseases and premature death. To determine the nutritional status and its association with the morbidity patterns of elderly patients. A cross-sectional hospital-based descriptive study involving 348 patients aged 60 years and above who presented at the Family Medicine Clinic. Data of the socio-demographic profile, anthropometric measurements and clinical diagnosis were collected. The co-morbidities were classified based on the number, duration and affected organ or system. The nutritional status was assessed with the Mini-Nutritional Assessment tool. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to determine associations between nutritional status and morbidity patterns of the elderly. The level of significance was set at a P ≤ 0.05. A total of 348 respondents were recruited with 60.9% of females and mean age of 67.83 (standard deviation ± 7.53) years. The prevalence of malnutrition was 25.3% and of risk of malnutrition 56.6%. Furthermore, the prevalence of multi-morbidity was 74.4%. Advanced age (odd ratio = 8.911, confidence interval [CI] = 1.992-39.872, P = 0.004), underweight (OR = 1.167, CI = 0.291-37.846, P < 0.001), lack of formal education, (OR = 1.569, CI = 0.357-0.908, P = 0.018), low monthly income (OR = 1.975, CI = 1.376-2.836, P < 0.001), chronic respiratory diseases (OR = 4.250, CI = 4.025-4.492, P < 0.001) and physical inactivity (OR = 2.466, CI = 1.063-5.722, P = 0.036) were the predictors of malnutrition. Furthermore, the duration of chronic disease for more than 10 years (OR = 1.632, CI = 0.408-0.979, P = 0.040) was significantly associated with at-risk of malnutrition. The study revealed advanced age, underweight, low educational status, chronic respiratory diseases and physical inactivity as independent risk factors for malnutrition among the elderly.
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