Nutritional status and determinants of malnutrition in institutionalized elderly people, provisional data

Nutrition is an important factor for health, physical and cognitive function, vitality, quality of life and longevity. Elderly people oft en have low food intake, induced by multifactorial causes, as a result, malnutrition is an independent risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality, regardless of the underlying pathologies (chronic organ failure, cognitive impairment, cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes etc.) including overweight or obese subjects.The prevalence of malnutrition varies from 4% to 10% in the elderly population from the community, from 15% to 38% for institutionalized elderly people and from 30% to 70% for hospitalized ones. The purpose of this study was to assess the nutritional status of institutionalized elderly people and establish correlations between the determinants of malnutrition and fragility syndrome.Th e epidemiological study is part of the project 20.80009.8007.25 “Fragility: diagnosis and prophylaxis in relation to medicopsychosocial problems of the vulnerable elderly”, included 50 patients institutionalized in the Republican Asylum for the Disabled and Retired in Chisinau.All persons were examined by the complex geriatric evaluation, approved by the order of the Ministry of Health no. 619 of 07.09.2010. According to the results, both malnutrition and the risk of malnutrition were high in institutionalized elderly people.Among the determinants of malnutrition, the highest association had the number of concomitant diseases, decreased functionality of the elderly, the presence of depression syndrome and cognitive disorders. At the same time, the malnutrition syndrome correlated with the fragility criteria but also with the degree of severity of frailty of the institutionalized elderly people.