Malnutrition among elderly a multifactorial condition to flourish: Evidence from a cross-sectional study

Aim: The negative outcomes like an increased risk of falling, anemia, immune dysregulation, impaired cognitive status, reduced muscle function, increased morbidity and mortality associated with malnutrition are believed to affect the economy of the country in the future years. In this backdrop, this study aims to evaluate the nutritional status and different risk factors associated with malnutrition among elderly patients at a tertiary care public teaching hospital. Methods: This questionnaire-based study utilized the "Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form" tool to evaluate the nutritional status of elderly inpatients (aged 60 years or more). The data obtained from 235 participants reporting in the medicine department is presented. Based upon MNA-SF tool parameters, a well-determined score was obtained and on the basis of scores, the patients were categorized into "normal" (12-14), "at risk of malnutrition" (8-11 points) and "malnourished" (0-7 points). Multinomial logistic regression was performed to study the influence of different determinants on the nutritional status among elderly inpatients. Results: The studied sample had a high frequency of 50.2% for the patients who are "at risk of malnutrition" and 46.4% of patients were "malnourished". Based on the evaluated scores of MNA-SF tool, this study also confirms that the mobility functions, the decline in food intake and weight loss are major risk factors for malnutrition. Conclusions: A very high prevalence of malnutrition was observed, in consonance with the previous reports. The findings also indicate that malnutrition is a multifactorial condition mostly associated with mobility dysfunction followed by somatic factors and socio-demographic factors. Further studies are required to map the risk factors in order to avoid the associated negative outcomes.