Survey the Demographic Factors, Pattern amd Nutritional Status of Elderly Referring to the Health Centers of Khodabandeh City in 2020

In the old age, anorexia and weight changes are common. Determining the nutritional status is a suitable indicator for evaluating the health of the elderly. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the demographic factors, pattern and nutritional status of the elderly who referred to the health centers of Khodabande city in 2020.

The present study was conducted cross-sectionally on 365 elderly people covered by health care centers in Khodabande city. Samples were selected using simple random sampling method from the Sib system of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. The data collection tool of the demographic information questionnaire, anthropometric indicators and nutritional status was collected using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire and the food patterns questionnaire from the Sib system. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 18 software and a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that 49.3% of the elderly were men and 50.7% were women, and the average age was 71.1±7.2 years. The body mass index of women was higher than that of men (26.0±3.8 vs. 28.3±4.5 (kg/m2)) (p=0.001). Most of the elderly did not have a trend of average reduction in food consumption and unwanted weight loss in the last 3 months. Daily fruit consumption was reported in 25.4% of the elderly and milk and dairy consumption in 26.3% was rarely or never reported. Overweight and unfavorable nutritional pattern were observed in about 10% and overweight with moderate to favorable nutritional pattern in about 11% of the elderly. Also, 22.2% of the elderly had a normal BMI index with an unfavorable nutritional pattern. About 2% of the elderly were malnourished.

The results showed that although the studied elderly did not have a trend of reducing food consumption and unwanted weight loss, their nutritional pattern was not optimal, especially in the consumption of vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products, and they had unfavorable nutritional habits such as using table salt, consuming fast foods and oils. Unfavorable was also unfavorable in the elderly. Therefore, considering the high number of elderly people at risk of malnutrition and the importance of healthy eating in improving the health level and improving living conditions, it is necessary to pay special attention to planning for this vulnerable group and to address the nutritional health of the elderly as a priority. elderly, nutritional status, health database