[The importance of a diet survey in the early detection of malnutrition in the elderly]. / Importancia de la encuesta dietética en la detección temprana de desnutrición en el anciano.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The elevated incidence of malnutrition in the elderly and its close relation with the prevalence and evolution of determined diseases raises the need for early identification. Despite the existence of numerous indicators, specificity, sensitivity or occasionally both are lacking. METHODS: One hundred fifteen institutionalized elderly of which 19 females and 12 males had signs of malnutrition were studied. A dietetic survey was carried out on all of those studied by means of a 24 hour recollection-interview, during which triceps fold (TF) and muscular area of the arm (MAA) were measured and serum concentrations of prealbumin (PA) protein bound to retinol (PBR), albumin (ALB), trasferrin (TNF) and complement factor 3 (C3) were determined. RESULTS: Not only caloric but also proteic intake were significantly lower in the undernourished (p less than 0.001) as with ALB (p less than 0.001), TNF (p less than 0.001) and C3 (p less than 0.02 in males and p less than 0.05 in females). However, the sensitivity demonstrated by the dietetic survey (77% in males and 73% in females) was higher to that presented by ALB (44% in males and 53% in females), TNF (33% in males and 53% in females) and C3 (0 in both sexes). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained demonstrate that the dietetic survey is a valid method for detecting not only the risk but also the subclinical presence of malnutrition, in contrast to ALB, TNF and C3 which, to that end, were of less use.