Assessment of Nutritional Status of Elderly Receiving Home Health Care

Background/Purpose: This study was carried out to evaluate the nutritional status of elderly who received home health care. Methods: A total of 120 elderly were included in this cross sectional study. Elderly were visited in their homes and nutritional status of them was evaluated by Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) scale. In questionnaire; general information about elderly, presence of chronic disease, pressure sores, anthropometric measurement, nutritional status of elderly were asked. In addition, current biochemical parameters which were routinely evaluated in elderly were recorded by the researcher. Results: The mean age of elderly (40 males and 80 females) was 81.3±8.3 (65-105) years, and 97.5% of elderly were diagnosed with at least one disease. According to the MNA-SF score, 60.8% of elderly were classified as malnourished, 34.2% at risk for malnutrition and 5.0% as normal nutritional status. Currently, 49.2% of malnourished elderly have pressure sores and 54.8% had at least once before; these rates were higher than elderly without malnutrition (p <0.001). In addition, total MNA-SF score of elderly is strongly positive with hemoglobin, hematocrit and calf circumference; it was found that there was a strong negative correlation with C-reactive protein (CRP). Conclusion: In this study, it was found that only 5.0% of elderly who received home health care were in good nutritional status and pressure sore was higher in elderly who have risk of malnutrition or malnourished. Nutritional status of elderly receiving home health care should be evaluated by dietitians and more comprehensive scientific studies are needed.