Assessment of nutritional status among older people seeking health care in tertiary care hospitals in Mangalore

BMC Geriatr. 2026 Jul 3. doi: 10.1186/s12877-026-07950-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: As the proportion of the geriatric population has increased worldwide, increases in mortality and morbidity are inevitable. To ensure healthy aging, preventive measures must be taken at the earliest stage. SDG 2.2 aims to overcome malnutrition, including malnutrition, among the older population. Thus, this study was designed to assess the prevalence of malnutrition among older people who visit hospitals for various ailments so that suggestive measures can be advised.

METHODS: The study was conducted after approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) and permissions from the administration of the institution. Older people aged above 60 years who provided consent to participate were considered for the study, while those who were not in a position to provide responses were excluded from the study. A sample of 117 participants was interviewed using a semistructured validated questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic details and the MNA-SF questionnaire. The collected data were entered and then analysed using IBM SPSS (ver 29).

RESULTS: A total of 69 (59%) patients received health care from government hospitals, whereas 48 (41%) patients sought health care from private hospitals, with almost equal participation from both genders. One-third of them had hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Upon screening, 40.2% of the older people had a normal nutritional status, whereas the rest of them were either at risk or already having malnutrition. With 58.1% of the participants being malnourished or at risk of malnourishment in the 60-69 age group, among the participants in the lower/upper lower socioeconomic status category, 62.9% were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, while 56.4% were in the lower middle/upper middle socioeconomic status category.

CONCLUSION: The present study highlights the substantial burden of malnutrition among older individuals. Two-thirds of the individuals were either at risk of developing malnutrition or had already developed malnutrition. As none of the sociodemographic factors were found to be associated, qualitative studies are needed to explore the various other reasons for developing malnutrition.

PMID:42399805 | DOI:10.1186/s12877-026-07950-5