Screening for Malnutrition among the Elderly with MNA Scale: A Clinic based Study in a Rural Area of West Bengal

Introduction: Aging is an inevitable phenomenon and increase in life expectancy over the year has led to rapid increase elderly population both in developed and developing countries. Among different elderly health issues like chronic non communicable disease, mental health, disability, ocular morbidity, malnutrition also quite prevalent and its usually coexists with other morbidities. The magnitude of malnutrition among the elderly in India is underreported. The present study was carried out to assess the nutritional status of the elderly aged 60 years and above by using MNA-SF (Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaireShort Form) tool and the various factors influencing their nutritional status in rural area of West Bengal Material and methods: An Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted in Diara and Nanda Sub-centers, under Rural Health Unit and Training Centre (RHUandTC), Singur, from July to August 2016 and 144 elderly were interviewed at Outpatient department during data collection period. Nutritional status was assessed with the help of the MNA SF questionnaire. Calculated Cronbach’s alpha of this 6 items MNA-SF scale (in Bengali language) was 0.87 indicating internal consistency was maintained between the items. Results: Mean (standard deviation) age of the study population (n = 144) was 70.82 (6.9) years and 52.1% were male. In this population, 27 (31.2%) was malnourished and 72 (50%) were at risk for malnutrition. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment female gender AOR(CI) 4.1(1.2-14.8), poor economic condition AOR (CI) 3.6 (1-12.9) and also chronic comorbidities AOR(CI) 3.8(1.0-14.6) were significantly associated with elderly malnutrition. Conclusion: The proportion of malnutrition observed in the aged people of rural area is undoubtedly high. The findings of the present study indicate that malnutrition is multifactorial and thus it should be managed through multidisciplinary health education approach with special emphasis on correct diet both in quantity and quality.