Nutritional status of rural community-dwelling older people and changes after following nutritional recommendations

Autor: Olga Riklikienė, Jūratė Tomkevičiūtė, Lina Spirgienė, Gytė Damulevičienė
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: International Journal of Nursing Practice. 24:e12688
ISSN: 1322-7114
DOI: 10.1111/ijn.12688
Popis: Background It is crucial that community nurses in remote areas are competent to recognize the risk of malnutrition in older people and be able to help them to improve their nutritional status. Aim To examine the factors associated with malnutrition and the impact of nutritional recommendations in rural community-dwelling older people. Design This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Method The study was conducted in 2014 in a rural primary health care setting in Lithuania with 169 older people. Nutritional status was assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment tool. Older people who were at risk of malnutrition or were already malnourished (n = 82) received written nutritional recommendations and were reassessed after 6 months. Results Nutritional status was normal for 51.5% of participants, 43.2% had risk of malnutrition, and 5.3% had malnutrition. Risk of malnutrition or malnutrition was associated with chronic and intermittent pain, chewing difficulties, swallowing disorders, dental problems, and medication use. The nutritional status of participants at risk of malnutrition or malnourished had improved 6 months later. Conclusions Risk of malnutrition or malnutrition was prevalent among rural community-dwelling older. The study highlighted that positive health outcomes are achievable in undernourished or at risk of malnutrition older people when nutritional recommendations are applied with minimal resources.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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