[Multicenter Cross-sectional Community-based Nutrition Risk Screening in 3885 Chinese Elderly Adults].

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the nutrition risks in Chinese elderly adults in community and provide the basis for malnutrition prevention.Methods The study population comprised of adults aged 60 years or older selected from communities. A stratified multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to investigate older adults in rural and urban areas with structured questionnaire. Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist was used to screen nutritional status. Analyses were stratified according to age,gender,different regions,rural and urban areas,and income.Results A total of 3885 older adults with complete information were enrolled for final analyses,among whom 1894 (48.8%) were males and 1991 (51.2%) were females; 56.2% aged 60-69 years,28.8% aged 70-79 years,and 15% aged over 80 years; 1665(42.9%) were urban residents; 1592(41.0%) were in the eastern region,1211(31.2%) in the central region,and 1082(27.8%) in the western region. Up to 48.4% of the elderly adults were at high nutritional risk,and the nutritional risk was significantly higher in females (50.7%) than in males (46.0%),in individuals aged over 80 years (53.0%) than in other age groups,in urban area (41.7%) than in rural area (53.9%),and in eastern region (52.9%) than in other regions. Significant differences were found between nutritional status and the following variables age (Χ 2=33.7,P=0.000),gender (Χ 2=15.7,P=0.000),different regions (Χ 2=72.0,P=0.000),rural and urban areas (Χ 2=69.4,P=0.000),income (Χ 2=304.9,P=0.000),and living arrangement (Χ 2=128.1,P=0.000).Conclusion Elder adults in community are at high nutritional risk.