Food intake and prevalence of malnutrition in nursing homes. A multicenter observational study

Abstract

(median 800 ml per day) and ate less, especially at dinner. Malnutrition was significantly associated to age, psychiatric disorders, disability in activity of daily life, feeding assistance, swallowing and chewing problems and poor fluid intake. Moreover, we found a higher number of malnourished residents amongst those who needed more feeding care during dinner, when there was a lower number of staff. This result confirms the strong relationship between the care feeding and malnutrition. Conclusions. In this study we found that malnourished residents were older with poor functional ability, chewing problems, dependence in feeding and poor fluid intake. Interventions to prevent malnutrition in nursing homes are a priority for the practice and for further studies.