[Low weight and functional disability in institutionalized elderly interns in Uberlândia in the State of Minas...

This article seeks to identify the association between nutritional status and functional dependence in institutionalized elderly interns in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. It involved a cross-sectional study with 233 elderly interns in which sociodemographic variables, nutritional status and degree of dependency were assessed. Multivariate analysis was performed using Poisson regression with robust variance to assess the association between nutritional status and functional dependence of these senior citizens. Low weight by the Body Mass Index was associated with functional dependence after controlling for socioeconomic and demographic variables. The elderly with low weight had a prevalence ratio of dependence of 1.2 times the prevalence rate of dependence of well nourished elderly interns. As reported in the literature, age was also associated with dependence with a prevalence ratio of 1.19 for the longest living. Low weight is an important factor associated with functional disability. Thus, the need for evaluation, monitoring and recovery of nutritional status in the institutionalized elderly is stressed, as in addition to reducing morbidity and mortality from several diseases and improve quality of life, it can also prevent and delay functional dependency.