Malnutrition among community dwelling older adults in a rural block area of South India
Ragasree Govind, Rajeev Jayalakshmi, Arun N Bhatt
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Kerala state has highest proportion of older adults in India. There is paucity of information on burden of malnutrition (under-nutrition) among them in the state. This study aimed to measure prevalence and associated factors of malnutrition among older adults in a rural community of Kerala. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018, among randomly selected 245 older persons (age ≥ 60 years) across rural area of Nemom block panchayath in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. Nutritional status was determined by Mini Nutritional Assessment tool. Other components of the interviewer-administered questionnaire were Barthel Index, Geriatric Depression Scale-15, socio-demography, morbidity and substance abuse details. Chi Square test and binary logistic regression were done appropriately. RESULTS: < 0.05). Older-old age (aOR - 3.358), depression (aOR - 4.859) and higher grade of dependency in activities of daily living (aOR - 2.940) were the attributes independently associated with malnutrition after adjusting for other factors. CONCLUSIONS: The older persons in the rural area of Kerala had high burden of malnutrition. Older-old, dependent and depressed individuals are more likely to be affected.