Nutritional Status and Factors Related to Nutritional Status of Elderly Living in the Community : ภาวะโภชนาการและปัจจัยที่เกี่ยวข้องกับภาวะโภชนาการของผู้สูงอายุที่อาศัยอยู่ในชุมชน

Abstract

          This descriptive study aimed to study the nutritional status and factors related to nutritional status of elderly people. The samples were 315 elderly people aged 60 years and over living in one community, Srisaket province. The data were collected during January to March, 2018. The research instruments composed of personal and health information of the elderly people and the Mini Nutritional Assessment. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. The association between the related factors and the nutritional status was determined using the Chi-Square test.

          The results showed that most of elderly people were women (70.5%). Of all elderly people, 50.2% were young-old group (aged 60-69 years old), 32.1% had normal body mass index, 56.8% had normal waist circumference, 40.3% had chronic disease, 62.2% had normal nutritional status, 35.9% had risk of malnutrition and 1.9% had malnutrition. The factors statistically significant associated  with the nutritional status of elderly people were age, chronic disease, illness duration, illness or health problem in the past 2 weeks, medication, distorted sense of smell and  vision, number of teeth, oral health problem and capability of mastication (p = 0.003, 0.009, 0.009, 0.001, 0.041, 0.010, 0.010, 0.007, 0.003 and 0.004, respectively).

          This study concluded that the nutritional status in elderly people was related to many factors. Therefore, the assessment of nutritional status should be done before people enter the old age in order to prevent and reduce their nutritional problems.

          Keywords : nutritional status, factor related to nutritional status, elderly