Associations Between Frailty, Sarcopenia, and Nutritional Status in Older Adults Living in Nursing Homes

Increasing awareness of factors that put the population at high risk of frailty is essential to prevent frailty and minimize its adverse consequences.

In this cross-sectional study, participants were over the age of 65 and living in nursing homes. The Edmonton Frailty Scale was used to determine frailty, the Sarcopenia Rapid Screening Test (SARC-F) was used to assess sarcopenia, and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire and 7-day 24-h dietary recall were used to determine the nutritional status of the older adult population. Data were analyzed by SPSS 25.0 for Windows (Statistical Package for Social Sciences).

The frailty scale score of gender was statistically significant (p < 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in sarcopenia status and malnutrition based on the distribution of the frailty status among the participants (p < 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in vitamin C intake adequacy according to the distribution of frailty status among older adults (p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between frailty status and sarcopenia (r = 0.773; p < 0.05). Frailty and nutritional status were significantly negatively correlated (r = -0.496; p < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between the sarcopenia status and malnutrition status of the participants (r = 0.489; p < 0.005).

Older adults living in nursing homes are at risk for frailty syndrome, malnutrition, and sarcopenia. Evaluating older adults in terms of all these factors and implementing daily nutrition plans and support according to these results is of great importance for promoting a healthy life.