Undernutrition, socio-demographic characteristics and eating habits of the elderly

Background and aims: Ageing is often accompanied by a decrease of food consumption, possibly leading to undernutrition. A single nutritional study was conducted in 2011 in the general population, showing that 5.5% of people aged >65 years were undernourished. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of undernutrition in the elderly and its relationship with sociodemographic characteristics and dietary habits. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a representative sample of subjects aged >= 60 years in urban and rural areas of the country's eight administrative regions. A questionnaire including socio-demographic data, food consumption frequencies and anthropometric measurements was used. Student's t-test and Man Whitney test were used with a significance level of 5%. A multivariate analysis was performed between undernutrition and the other factors collected. Results: 1698 older adults were included (male: 63.5%, sex ratio M/F = 1.7), with a mean age of 71.6 +/- 9.4 years and a BMI of 22.6 +/- 4.4 kg/m(2). The prevalence of undernutrition was 14.4%. Undernutrition was significantly associated with age 80-89 years and >= 90 years, (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001 respectively), male sex (p = 0.006), rural areas (p = 0.002), being in activity (p = 0.009) and fish consumption (p = 0.039). Breakfast was consumed every day in 87.2% of cases, lunch in 74.3% and dinner in 83.2%. Rice and bread were the most consumed food. Conclusion: Early detection of nutritional disorders, nutritional education and promotion of a balanced diet could help improve the health of the elderly. (c) 2024 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.