Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
Original studyMalnutrition and Depression among Community-dwelling Elderly People
Section snippets
Methods
This was a cross-sectional study among a population of individuals aged 60 to 74 years who were living in one district of the city of Londrina, in the southern region of Brazil. The exclusion criterion used was the presence of significant functional dependence such that the individual remained restricted to bed. The data were gathered by a team of trained investigators after carrying out a pilot study to refine the instrument used.
Nutritional deficit was taken to be the dependent variable. It
Results
There were 323 elderly people eligible for the study. Out of this total, 13 (4.0%) refused to take part and 43 (13.3%) could not be located in their homes after 3 attempts. Thus, the sample studied consisted of 267 elderly individuals, with predominance of females (59.9%). Most of the individuals (79.4%) said they had a low schooling level and half of them (48.3%) presented low socioeconomic level.
The presence of nutritional deficit was identified in 58 individuals, of whom 5 were malnourished
Discussion
Analysis of the data showed that, among this population of community-dwelling elderly individuals who were of low schooling and low socioeconomic levels, there was an association between nutritional deficit and presence of depression.
The sample was made up of noninstitutionalized elderly people of maximum age 74 years and without any great functional dependence. This selection of an elderly population with lower prevalence of comorbidities is a point that deserves to be highlighted in this
Conclusion
The evidence of a relationship between depressive symptoms and nutritional deficit among healthy elderly people strengthens the need for wide-ranging geriatric assessments that include the nutritional and psychological characteristics of this age group. A systematic approach of this nature will make it possible to identify these disorders at an early stage, thereby favoring the adoption of intervention measures that ensure adequate health conditions for this population.
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Cited by (156)
Geriatric malnutrition and depression: Evidence from elderly home care population in Bangladesh
2021, Preventive Medicine ReportsThe concept of anorexia of aging in late life depression: A cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study.
2021, Archives of Gerontology and GeriatricsCitation Excerpt :Previous studies consistently found an association between (proxies for) AA and depression. Nonetheless, these studies were conducted in the general population, used screening scales to detect depression, and/or evaluated weight loss or malnutrition instead of changes in appetite or anorexia (Cabrera, Mesas, Garcia & de Andrade, 2007; Kimura et al., 2012). To our knowledge, no study has examined AA and depressive disorder according to DSM criteria in a clinical sample of geriatric outpatients.
The authors have no conflicts of interest.
This research was supported in part by Araucária Fundation and Capes.