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[Prevalence of malnutrition in the elderly Spanish population]
1Area de Medicina Preventiva, Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain. jmramon@csub.scs.es
Background:
Malnutrition in elderly has become an important problem of health, and is associated with an increase of morbidity and mortality in this age group. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition in the Spanish institutionalized and living home elderly people.
Subjects And Method:
A sample of 3,460 representative Spanish subjects older than 65 years old were studied (response rate of 96%). Nutritional status was gathered by Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire.
Results:
The prevalence of malnutrition was 3,3% among elderly living at home and 7,7% among institutionalized people. Malnutrition was more prevalent in women and people with a lower income. Increase of malnutrition with age was observed.
Conclusions:
The observed prevalence of malnutrition in Spanish non-institutionalized elderly people was similar to observed in another populations. Sex, age and income were associated with a risk of malnutrition