S Kalaiselvi1, Yousuf Arjumand2, R Jayalakshmy1, Ramaswamy Gomathi1, Thekkur Pruthu1, C Palanivel3. 1. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry-6, India. 2. Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (IGMC&RI), Puducherry-10, India. 3. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry-6, India. Electronic address: palaniccm@gmail.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Under-nutrition among elderly goes undetected, despite their nature of vulnerability to it. Majority of the available literature assessed under nutrition in the facility based settings. We aimed to determine the prevalence of under-nutrition and its associated factors among elderly, in a rural setting. METHODS: A community based cross sectional survey was conducted among elderly in one of the randomly selected sub centre catchment area in rural Puducherry, south India. Information on socio demographic characteristics, morbidities and perception on their nutritional status were obtained. Anthropometric measures such as weight and arm span were measured by trained medical graduate as per the standard guidelines. Bodymass index (BMI) less than 18.5kg/m(2) was considered as under-nutrition. RESULTS: Of total 296 elderly in the study setting, 271 (92%) participated in the study. The prevalence of under nutrition among the elderly was 24.8% (95% CI: 19.7-30.3). More than half of the elderly (58.7%) perceived their nutritional status as poor; of them 28.9% were actually under-nourished. Mean (SD) BMI scores were higher for elderly women compared to that of men [elderly women vs men: 22 (4.6)kg/m(2) vs 21 (3.8)kg/m(2), p=0.03]. In multivariate analysis, being an elderly male, age more than 70 years and per capita income less than 1000 INR were found to be significantly associated with under-nutrition. CONCLUSION: In this rural area, one fourth of elderly were under nourished. Urgent inter-sectoral measures including food security programs are required to address this huge nutritional problem in this vulnerable group.
BACKGROUND: Under-nutrition among elderly goes undetected, despite their nature of vulnerability to it. Majority of the available literature assessed under nutrition in the facility based settings. We aimed to determine the prevalence of under-nutrition and its associated factors among elderly, in a rural setting. METHODS: A community based cross sectional survey was conducted among elderly in one of the randomly selected sub centre catchment area in rural Puducherry, south India. Information on socio demographic characteristics, morbidities and perception on their nutritional status were obtained. Anthropometric measures such as weight and arm span were measured by trained medical graduate as per the standard guidelines. Bodymass index (BMI) less than 18.5kg/m(2) was considered as under-nutrition. RESULTS: Of total 296 elderly in the study setting, 271 (92%) participated in the study. The prevalence of under nutrition among the elderly was 24.8% (95% CI: 19.7-30.3). More than half of the elderly (58.7%) perceived their nutritional status as poor; of them 28.9% were actually under-nourished. Mean (SD) BMI scores were higher for elderly women compared to that of men [elderly women vs men: 22 (4.6)kg/m(2) vs 21 (3.8)kg/m(2), p=0.03]. In multivariate analysis, being an elderly male, age more than 70 years and per capita income less than 1000 INR were found to be significantly associated with under-nutrition. CONCLUSION: In this rural area, one fourth of elderly were under nourished. Urgent inter-sectoral measures including food security programs are required to address this huge nutritional problem in this vulnerable group.
Authors: Kalaiselvi Selvaraj; R Jayalakshmy; Arjumand Yousuf; Arvind Kumar Singh; Gomathi Ramaswamy; C Palanivel Journal: J Family Med Prim Care Date: 2017 Apr-Jun
Authors: Diego Urrunaga-Pastor; Fernando M Runzer-Colmenares; Tania M Arones; Rosario Meza-Cordero; Silvana Taipe-Guizado; Jack M Guralnik; Jose F Parodi Journal: F1000Res Date: 2019-01-15
Authors: Yukie Nakajima; Steven M Schmidt; Agneta Malmgren Fänge; Mari Ono; Toshiharu Ikaga Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2019-02-20 Impact factor: 3.390