Evaluation of nutritional status of patients over 65 years of age WHO APPLY to A family HEALTH center in ankara

Introduction and Aim: Increasing elderly population in the world and in Turkey has brought with it many physical, emotional, sociological, functional and cognitive problems specific to old age (1). Malnutrition is defined as insufficient or unbalanced intake of macro and micronutrients. The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) uses nutritional deficiency as clinically synonymous with the term malnutrition (2). The prevalence of malnutrition increases with age and is an important mortality and morbidity problem for elderly individuals (3,4). Nutritional screening is always recommended in all clinical and care settings, as patients with acute and chronic diseases are considered to be at high risk of developing malnutrition (5). Our aim in the study is to determine the nutritional status of patients aged 65 and over who applied to the primary health care institution by comparing MNA and MNA-SF tests, and to determine the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics that may be related to the nutritional status. Method: The study is a cross-sectional study for the assessment of malnutrition in individuals aged 65 and over. A questionnaire was applied by face-to-face interview method to 292 patients aged 65 and over, registered to the population of Etimesgut Family Health Center No. 2, who agreed to participate in the study. A questionnaire with 22 questions was applied. Age, gender, marital status, education level, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases (asthma, COPD, etc.), digestive system disorders, dementia, depression, osteoporosis, neurological disorders, other diseases(anemia, goiter etc.), chewing difficulties, dysphagia, drug use and smoking were questioned. MNA and MNA-SF tests were applied for screening and evaluation of nutrition. While evaluating the findings obtained in the study, SPSS 22.0 Statistics package program was used for statistical analysis. Results of Comparisons 95%, 99% confidence interval; p<0.05, p<0.01 were evaluated at the level of significance. Results: According to the screening results obtained by performing the MNA-SF screening test, 28.08% of the participants were at risk of malnutrition and 4.11% were found to be malnourished. According to the evaluation score made with the MNA test; xi 23.97% were at risk of malnutrition and 3.77% were identified as malnourished. In this case, when MNA-SF and MNA were compared, the value of 84.25% was found to be compatible. It has been determined that the risk of malnutrition and malnutrition is statistically significantly higher in the presence of swallowing and chewing difficulties, in the presence of chronic disease, and in individuals using regular medication. From chronic diseases; The malnutrition risk ratio of COPD/asthma patients (41.86%), the malnutrition rate of participants with osteoporosis (14.29%), the malnutrition risk of participants with ASKVH (32.61%) and malnutrition rates (4.67%) were statistically significantly higher found (p<0.05). In addition, BMI, arm and calf circumference values were found to be lower in individuals with malnutrition or malnutrition risk (p<0.05). Conclusion: It is necessary to evaluate malnutrition and the risk of malnutrition in the elderly, and to determine the factors that may be associated with malnutrition. The MNA-SF or MNA we used in our study is a cheap, practical and reliable method that can be used in the evaluation of nutrition. Key words: nutritional assessment, malnutrition, elderly