Nutritional Status Assessment of the Elderly in the Academic Services Areas of Kamphaeng Phet Rajabhat University

Abstract

The research was a cross-sectional study aimed 1) to assess nutritional status of the elderly in the academic services areas of Kamphaeng Phet Rajabhat University, 2) to determine correlation between Body Mass Index (BMI) with some factors and anthropometric indices. The samples were 300 elderly selected by using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using personal data record form, Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA^®), anthropometric data collection form and tools for anthropometric measurement, and analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, Chi-square statistics and Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient. The result showed that most of samples were obese (45.7%) when using BMI, and 66.0% of samples had abdominal obesity when using waist circumference, had mid-arm circumference ≥ 31 cm. (67.1%), had calf circumference > 22cm. (86.6%). Then, samples had Protein and Energy Malnutrition (PEM) (1.0%) when using BMI calculated from Demi-span (BMI-D). MNA^® part I showed that most of samples had normal nutritional status (74.7%) and MNA^® part 2 revealed that most of samples were at risk of malnutrition (55.3%) and malnutrition (3.9%). Association analyses showed that eat full meals per day, consumption of protein-rich food had significant correlation with BMI (p-vale < 0.05). Moreover, BMI was associated with all other of anthropometric indices statistically significant at p-value < 0.01. Therefore, the findings of this study demonstrated that elderly malnutrition in the academic services areas of Kamphaeng Phet Rajabhat University. In addition to malnutrition screening in community elderly is necessary to ensure that the elderly receive timely care before malnutrition occurs or more severe malnutrition and to have a better quality of life for the elderly.