NUTRITIONAL CLASSIFICATION IN THE ELDERLY
Friends of steemit, cordial greetings.
For me it is a pleasure to present this summary of my project has the title ANTIROPOMETRIC NUTRITIONAL CLASSIFICATION IN THE ELDERLY ADULT.
I am a student of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Los Andes, I decided to take this topic as a project since it is to be concerned about how elderly people are nourished housed in nursing homes, whether private or public.
The objective of this research was to establish the nutritional classification of elderly people belonging to the geriatric "Refuge of the grandparents" in the State of Merida, the methodology used was through a field investigation, as a measuring instrument the Mini questionnaire was carried out Nutritional Assessment (MNA), where the population was studied by sex, age and economic level, determine the risk factors with higher prevalence associated with the nutritional status and validate the information obtained in the MNA applied to the elderly from the answers of the informant , caregiver or relative, the sample was 23 older adults and has three phases:
1 Review of anthropometric measurements.
2 Application of the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire.
3 The scoring score and the evaluation were calculated. Where it can be said that the results of the analysis, it was found that 69.56% present a risk of malnutrition, 21.73% have malnutrition, leaving 8.69% have a normal nutritional status.
General Objective of the investigation
Establish the anthropometric nutritional classification of the elderly residents in the Refuge of the grandparents through the Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire.
Specific objectives of the investigation
• Identify elderly patients at risk of malnutrition.
• Categorize the nutritional status of older adults according to anthropometric indicators.
• Determine the most frequent nutritional category among the patients studied.
What is the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and how is it used?
It is a method of nutritional evaluation for elderly population. It is designed for the hospital environment, residences and ambulatory population. It is currently accepted by a large number of scientific institutions and organizations around the world.
It has been translated into more than 20 languages and hundreds of studies on prevalence of malnutrition and validation of the method in different countries have been developed. It is quite reliable has a high predictive value.
It is a questionnaire carried out by health personnel. It consists of two parts: a screening (7 questions), and an evaluation (12 questions) that are done only if the screening is positive. A total score ≥24 indicates that the patient has a good nutritional status. A score between 17-23.5 identifies patients at nutritional risk, who may not have lost much weight, but who are having a protein-calorie intake lower than recommended. These patients require a nutritional intervention (in the form of dietary advice or supplements) to prevent the development of the malnutrition process. If the score is less than 17, the patient presents caloric-protein malnutrition. It takes about 10-15 minutes to complete the complete questionnaire.
It also classifies patients as Well-nourished, at Risk and Malnourished. The realization of this screening takes about 4-5 minutes.
Conclusions
Although only a small percentage of the studied population is malnourished, the bulk of the population can be classified as at risk of malnutrition, a situation conditioned by various factors such as culture, income, age and loneliness.
Regarding the frequency of consumption, this population has an inadequate intake of protein foods with high biological value such as milk, meat, fish and chicken. Situation that the whole country is going through because the basic sesta is so expensive.
Other prevalent risk factors related to nutritional status were:
The consumption of more than three drugs a day 100% of the population.
