Obesity in European nursing homes participating in nutritionDay 2016–2021—Prevalence and resident characteristics

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess obesity prevalence and characterize European nursing home (NH) residents with obesity comprehensively. Cross-sectional nutritionDay data from 2016 to 2021. Descriptive characterization of European NH residents ≥65 years with and without obesity. Binomial logistic regression to identify factors associated with obesity. A total of 11 327 residents (73.8% female, 86.4 ± 7.9 years, mean body mass index 25.3 ± 5.4 kg/m²) from 12 countries were analysed. Obesity prevalence was 17.7%, mostly class I (13.0%). Taking ≥5 drugs/day (OR 1.633; 95% confidence intervals 1.358–1.972), female sex (1.591; 1.385–1.832), being bed/chair-bound (1.357; 1.146–1.606), and having heart/circulation/lung disease (1.276; 1.124–1.448) was associated with increased obesity risk, older age (0.951; 0.944–0.958), mild (0.696; 0.601–0.805) and severe (0.591; 0.488–0.715) dementia, eating less than ¾ of lunch on nutritionDay (0.669; 0.563–0.793), needing assistance for eating (0.686; 0.569–0.825), and being identified by NH staff at risk for (0.312; 0.255–0.380) or with malnutrition (0.392; 0.236–0.619) decreased obesity risk. Almost one in five residents in European NH participating in nutritionDay is affected by obesity. Through a wide exploratory analysis, including data from 12 European countries, we confirmed previous findings and identified additional factors associated with obesity that should be considered in the daily care of affected residents.