ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Most patients with dementia lose body weight over the course of the disease and have a lower body mass index (BMI) than subjects with normal cognition. AIMS: To examine body mass index and how it correlates with cognitive status, age and gender in patients with different dementia disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from newly diagnosed dementia patients in the Swedish Dementia Quality Registry (SveDem) and recorded information about age, gender, cognitive status and BMI was analyzed using independent samples t tests and one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: A total of 12,015 patients, 7,121 females and 4,894 males were included in the study. The average BMI was 24. More than a quarter of the patients had a BMI of <22. Females were significantly older (p < 0.001) and males had a significantly higher BMI (p < 0.001) at the time of diagnosis. BMI differed significantly by gender in various dementia disorders and correlated significantly with cognitive status and age. CONCLUSION: At the time of diagnosis, patients with various dementia disorders had a BMI within the normal range. However, a significant number had a BMI in a lower, suboptimal range for older persons stressing the need for nutritional assessment as part of the dementia work up. Further analyses with longitudinal follow-up are needed to investigate BMI changes over time.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: School meals are also a teaching occasion in which children learn about food and meals, which is referred to as "pedagogic meals" in Sweden. The aim of the present article was to study how the pedagogic meal is practiced in preschool and school settings, with focus on how teachers acted when interacting with the children. DESIGN: Observations, interviews, and focus group interviews. SETTING: School canteens. PARTICIPANTS: Three schools. PHENOMENON OF INTEREST: Teaching in the school meal situation. ANALYSIS: Social constructionism, new social studies of childhood. RESULTS: The teachers took on 3 different roles. The sociable teacher role entailed turning the school lunch into a social occasion, the educating teacher role involved educating the children, and the evasive teacher role was not associated with the definition of a pedagogic meal. The teacher roles, which ranged from adult-oriented to child-oriented, and which varied in the level of interaction with the children, were summarized in a framework named the Adult- to Child-oriented Teacher Role Framework for School Meals (ACTS). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: To realize the potential of pedagogic meals, teachers must be educated and become aware of the effects of their behaviors. In this situation, the ACTS framework can constitute a useful tool.