Relationship between Malnutrition and Functional Disability in Selected Community-Dwelling Geriatric Population in Bangladesh

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe average life expectancy of the Bangladeshi population has been rising over the last decade due to the economic growth along with improved medicare. Although the increased number of geriatric people and their health is a matter of great concern, this issue remains unnoticed here.ObjectivesTo assess the nutritional status of the functionality and to analyze the association between nutritional status and functional ability of the selected Bangladeshi geriatric population.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 participants, covering Chittagong, Noakhali, Comilla, and Jessore district of Bangladesh from December 2019 to February 2020. A standard and pretested questionnaire containing Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA), Activities of daily living scale (ADL), Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL), was used.ResultsAccording to our study, The prevalence of malnutrition and people at risk of malnutrition have been 25.4% and 58.8%, respectively. In the case of functionality, 63.3% of subjects have high falling risk, and 61.8% of subjects can independently do their daily activities while 38.3% are dependent. Furthermore, almost 80% of people are dependent in terms of doing living skills. High risk of falling (OR=10.823; 95% CI: 5.846-20.37; p<0.001), poor skill in doing ADL (OR=6.206; 95% CI: 4.021-9.581; p<0.001), along with dependency in performing IADL (OR=4.477; 95% CI: 2.833-7.075; p<0.001) are significantly associated with malnutrition.ConclusionsGeriatric malnutrition can accelerate disability conditions, which can lead to early functional aging and subsequent loss in the quality of life.