TITLE:
Elderly Persons Aged 80 Years and Older and Their Nutritional Status
AUTHORS:
Mona Persenius, Gertrud Glawing, Hans-Bertil Hermansson, Ingela Karlsson
KEYWORDS:
Elderly, Malnutrition, Mini Nutritional Assessment, Nursing Home, Ordinary Housing
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.4 No.5,
April
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: A
challenge for health care providers is that there will be a distinct rise
globally in the number of elderly people aged 80 years and over. Malnutrition
is a well-known problem among elderly people; few studies have focused on the
nutritional status of those aged over 80, irrespective of whether they live in
nursing homes (NHs) or in ordinary housing. The aim of the study was to examine
the nutritional status of elderly people aged 80 or older. The study was
cross-sectional with 64 elderly persons (80 - 100 years old) living in NHs (n =
35) or in ordinary housing (n = 29). Their nutritional status was assessed with
the Mini Nutritional Assessment. Among the elderly people living in NHs, half
were at risk and one fourth were suffering from malnutrition. Ten percent of
the elderly persons in ordinary housing were found to be at risk; none were
malnourished. Thirty-one percent had BMI values