Nutritional Status and Sarcopenia in Nursing Home Residents: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aimed to assess the nutritional status and sarcopenia in older people living in nursing homes.

This cross-sectional study enrolled 386 older adults in nursing homes in Hunan Province, China. Assessments included the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form for nutrition risk, Dietary Diversity Score for dietary diversity and Mini Mental State Examination for cognitive status. Sociodemographic (e.g., age, sex and educational level), health-related characteristics (e.g., food intake, self-care status and medication), body composition (e.g., body mass index [BMI], protein, body fat mass [BFM], percent body fat [PBF], skeletal muscle index [SMI] and total body water [TBW]) and anthropometric parameters data (e.g., calf circumference [CC], upper arm circumference [UAC], handgrip and gait speed) were also collected. Malnutrition and their associated risk were analyzed by multivariable Poisson regression analysis.

In total, 32.4% of participants (n = 125) were at risk of malnutrition and 49.7% (n = 192) suffered from sarcopenia. Nutritional status was positively associated with age (risk ratio [RR] = 1.03), sarcopenia (RR = 1.88), tooth loss affecting food intake (RR = 1.45), low self-care status (RR = 1.82) and moderate/inadequate dietary diversity (RR = 2.04) and negatively associated with one child (RR = 0.27), BMI (RR = 0.82), protein (RR = 0.76), BFM (RR = 0.91), PBF (RR = 0.94), SMI (RR = 0.65), TBW (RR = 0.94), CC (RR = 0.89) and UAC (RR = 0.86).

Age, number of children, sarcopenia, food intake, self-care status, dietary diversity and body composition were associated with malnutrition among nursing home residents. For vulnerable groups, researchers should focus on raising the body composition indicators, such as BMI, protein, BFM, SMI and TBW and measuring CC and UAC for initial screening.