Nutritional Status and Dietary Pattern among Elderly Populations in Selected Urban Areas of Bangladesh

Author(s): Sonia Saif, Abdullah Al Masum, Mohammad Tanvir Islam, Md. Alfanuzzaman, Natasha Tarannum.

Introduction:

Nutrition plays an essential role in determining the health and functional ability of the elderly. With the global elderly population expanding rapidly, there is a heightened risk of malnutrition and associated morbidity among them. This risk may further exacerbated by the absence of an elderly-specific health and nutrition surveillance system, particularly evident in our country. In this study the nutritional status have been assessed with the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tool in association to the food consumption pattern (24 hour recall of dietary consumption) in elderly urban population of Bangladesh.

Methods:

A cross sectional study have been conducted by Department of Internal Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in 3 districts in Bangladesh over a period of one year from January 2021 to December 2021. Purposive sampling method was used to reach the target population from the ‘Help Age’ NGO census of the selected districts. The sample consisted of 220 healthy elderly people.

Results:

In this study, the aged between 65 to 90 years with the mean age of 73.48 ± 7.11 years. The percentage of male respondents was 53.2%, while that of female respondents was 46.8%. Among them, 40.5% were malnourished, 16.4% were at risk of malnutrition, and the remaining 43.1% were in a nourished status. The food consumption patterns at breakfast and lunch found to be linked to the nourishment status of the respondents (p<0.05). At breakfast, the nourished group of respondents exhibited a higher prevalence of rice consumption (p<0.05). In this group, meat consumption at lunch was significantly more prevalent (p<0.05). Sugary food, saturated fat food, high potassium foods are associated with the nourishment status of the respondents (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

The proportion of salty food consumption was higher, while adequate water intake, consumption of fruits, or fiber-rich food was low in this sample, although they were not significantly associated with the nutritional status (p>0.05). In conclusion, the sample of this study exhibited low food diversity and high malnourishment, highlighting the urgent need for rapid intervention as well as awareness generation among the elderly group of population for the attainment of better nutrition to facilitate healthy aging.