The prevalence of malnutrition and its related factors among the elderly of Bojnourd, 2014

Background: Nutrition plays a very important role in the health and disease of the elderly, and malnutrition is an obstacle to increasing the quality of life of the elderly. This study was conducted to assess malnutrition and its related factors among the elderly of Bojnourd in 2014.

Methods: This study was descriptive cross-sectional. The study population included all the elderly of Bojnourd, among whom 120 elderly were recruited by cluster sampling method. Data were collected using interviews, observation and questionnaires by referring to the homes, hospitals and elderly care centers. In this study, Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was used. Data analysis was performed by chi-square test.

Results: The mean age of elderly was 71.73±9.70 years. 56.7% of the samples were men and 43.3% were women. 30% of the elderly had a good nutrition, 62.2% of them were at the risk of the malnutrition and 7.5% were malnourished. The results showed that mal malnutrition significantly more seen in female gender, low level of education, smoking single status, staying in nursing home than those hospitalized or are active in community, but no significant difference was reported between age and socioeconomic status.

Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of malnutrition in the elderly, and possibility of malnutrition among the elderly, further attempts are required to be made to improve the quality of life and to reduce illness and disability in this population.