Quality of Life and Risk for Malnutrition in a Group of Older Adults

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To describe associations between quality of life and factors associated with risk of malnutrition in adult meal program participants. Quality of life is an important outcomes measure for health care. There has been little empirical research to characterize relationships between quality of life and factors associated with malnutrition in older adults. To investigate such relationships, all participants in the Title III-C meals programs age 60 and over in Pepin County, Wisconsin, were asked to complete a questionnaire during a 1-month period in the spring of 1996. The instrument included the Nutrition Screening Initiative Determine Checklist, quality of life (QOL) and quality of health (QOH) scales, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and scales to evaluate functional status, food security, social satisfaction, and food satisfaction. Sociodemographic data were also obtained. The response rate was 86%, with 155 usable questionnaires; n=108 and 47 for congregate (C) and home-delivered meal (HD) participants, respectively. Ages (x̄±SD) for C were 78.1±7.3 and for HD 81.4±7.5, P<0.01. Independent of age, HD subjects had significantly lower QOL scores than did C ( P<0.01) and were at greater nutritional risk, with Determine Checklist scores of (x̄±SD, P<0.05) 4.2±2.8 and 3.9±2.8, respectively. HD also reported poorer functional status ( P<0.001)and QOH ( P<0.05) and had higher GDS scores ( P<0.05) than did C. Spearman correlation coefficients computed for QOL and scales indicated that QOH was positively correlated with QOL, while GDS score, lower functional status, greater food insecurity and lesser enjoyment of food were negatively correlated with QOL.