A Comparative study on nutritional status of elderly people from old age homes and family setup
Loading...
Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
The present study was planned to compare the nutritional status of elderly from old age homes to their
counterparts living in urban or rural family set ups and disseminate need based education. There were 180 study
subjects selected randomly from the three residential set ups of Hisar. Of the total, 53.88 per cent were male and
46.11 per cent were female. Majority of male respondents (39.18%) had been in agriculture sector to earn living
during their active years while majority of female respondents had been house wives. Majority of respondents
(53.33%) elderly were illiterate, had sedentary life style (66.67%), had a living spouse (66.11%) and had monthly
family income between Rs.10001-30,000. Most common reason for shifting to old age home was conflicting
relations with family. Respondents from old age home were least active and those from rural family set up were
most active. Mean PAL of respondents varied from 1.12±0.02 to 1.96±0.09. Osteoporosis (94.44%), joint pain
(87.78%), loss of appetite (85.56%) and anemia (80.56%) were the most commonly reported problems. Per cent
prevalence of most problems was higher in old age home respondents. Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living
was used to assess level of independence. The level of independence was lowest in old age home respondents.
Depression prevalence was more noticeable in residents of old age home. Based on MNA scale, per cent of elderly
assessed as malnourished or at risk of malnutrition was higher in old age home followed by rural family set up. No
significant differences (P≤ 0.05) were observed in anthropometric measurements of females from three different
residential set ups except in case of mean waist circumference, mean hip circumference and waist to hip ratio
which were significantly higher (P≤ 0.05) in urban family set up females. Mean waist to hip ratio of females from
all three family set ups was higher than the cut off value of 0.85 thus suggesting abdominal obesity. Male elderly
from urban family set up were significantly (p≤0.05) heavier and taller to their counterparts from old age home and
rural family set up. Mean waist to hip ratio of male respondents from all three residential set ups was within the cut
off limit of > 90 cm. Based on BMI, 32 elderly people were reported as underweight, 89 as normal weight, 46 as
overweight and 13 were in the category of obese. Old age home had higher per cent of underweight as well as
obese. Genderwise, significant (p≤0.05) differences were observed in mean BMI of male and female respondents.
Dual malnutrition was very much evident in all three residential set ups. The mean daily food intake for all food
groups was significantly (p ≤0.05) below RDI (20.46-98.45 % of RDI) in elderly respondents from old age home.
On the contrary, it was significantly (p ≤0.05) higher than RDI (104.48-141.16 % of RDI) for most food groups in
urban as well as rural family set up respondents. Fruit intake was significantly (p ≤0.05) lower in all residential set
ups and both genders. Mean nutrient intake significantly (p≤0.05) lower in case of all elderly under study. Intake
of most nutrients differed significantly (p≤0.05) among the females from three different residential setups. Nutrient
intake by both male and female elderly from old age home was significantly (p≤0.05) lower than that of their
counterparts in urban or rural family set up. Nutrient adequacy for all nutrients except energy and protein was
found to be below 50 per cent in old age home. The elderly people of urban family setup had significantly (p≤0.05)
higher scores of dietary diversity and food variety than rural family setup and old age home respondents. Pearson’s
correlations coefficients for past occupation of elderly people and family income and BMI for age were significant
(r=0.23; p≤0.05 and r=0.21; p≤0.05). Also adequacy ratio for energy, fat and protein were significantly associated
with residential set up. Nutrition education significantly (p≤0.05) improved mean score of elderly regarding
nutrition knowledge.
Description
Keywords
null