Screening the nutrition status of elderly individuals who apply to A hospital's polyclinics and determining liquid consumption

This research was conducted to screen the nutritional special status of elderly people and to determine their fluid consumption. The study was conducted on 200 elderly (93 males, 46.5%, 107 females, 53.5%) individuals aged 65 years and over who applied to the polyclinics of a hospital in the city of Gaziantep. Demographic information, nutritional habits/food consumption frequency, Mini Nutritional Research (MNA) and anthropometric measurements are included in the questionnaire form applied to individuals. The mean ages of elderly individuals are similar (p = 0.884; p> 0.05). Hypertension (men 35.5%, women 65.4%) and diabetes (men 34.2%, women 52.3%) were found to be the most common diseases, especially in women. While there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of diabetes and hypertension diseases, a statistically significant difference was found with other diseases (p = 0.000; p <0.01). Turkey Nutrition Guidebook (TUBER) according to 92.4% of the energy is to be taken for men and women met the 97.4% of energy. The ratio of energy from carbohydrate (45.36% ± 7.76% in men, 46.33 ± 7.05% in women) and protein (18.48% ± 2.00% in women) at the recommended level, The ratio of fat (36.02% ± 6.70% in men, 34.88 ± 6.37% in women) was found to be higher than the recommended one. It was found that in elderly individuals (women 40.2%, men 45.1%), 42.6% of both genders consumed water below the recommended level. It has been determined that 42.6% of the elderly individuals of both sexes in total consume water below the recommended level. In the Body Mass Index (BMI) classification, it was determined that 36.0% of men were overweight and 49.5% of women were obese. A statistically significant difference was found between the BMI values of the elderly according to gender (p = 0.000; p <0.01). 51.7% of women and 48.3% of men have normal (12-14 points) nutritional status according to the MNA score, 35.7% of men and 64.3% of women are at risk of malnutrition (8 -11 points). No difference was found between nutritional status according to gender (p = 0.229; p> 0.05). As a result of this study, it was determined that the elderly had some problems in terms of nutrition and fluid consumption, accordingly, it was concluded that the necessary policies on elderly nutrition were developed and the elderly people were informed about this issue. Key words: elderly, fluid intake, malnutrition. Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA)