Assessment of the nutritional pattern in frailty syndrome dependent institutionalized elderly

Abstract

Background: Problems of nutritional status are widespread, of which malnutrition occurs more frequently in vulnerable groups of the population, especially in the low-income elderly, including the institutionalized elderly. Material and methods: The study was performed on a group of 50 participants over the age of 65, from the nursing home; the nutritional status was assessed according to the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) score, the frailty syndrome (FS) was established based on Fried criteria and severity of FS – based on the Clinical Frailty Scale. The obtained data were statistically processed by using the “Statistica 6.0” software program. The difference was considered statistically significant with p <0.05. Results: The MNA score showed a positive correlation with reduced physical activity: r= 0.4*, between reduced physical activity and reduced walking speed: r= 0.66*, reduced physical activity and fatigue (lack of energy): r= 0.94* (p≤0.05). The cluster analysis revealed that against the background of the same food intake, body weight, mobility, neurological status can easily change, the phenomenon underlying the separation of the elderly in different clusters (1 and 2), while moderately low food intake in the last 3 months led to significantly reduced mobility, impaired neurological status (severe dementia or depression). Conclusions: This study reported that the elderly in the nursing home have an increased risk of malnutrition, being associated with nutritional pattern, such as: involuntary weight loss, the presence of neuropsychiatric disorders, decline in food consumption, affecting the quality of life.