Geriatric nutritional status in rural areas of Varanasi Shankar Ravi1,*, Mohapatra A.2, Mahapatra S.C.3 1Asstt. Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, B.H.U., Varanasi 2Senior Programme Manager, INCLEN, New Delhi 3Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, B.H.U., Varanasi *Corresponding Author: Dr. Ravi Shankar, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences. BHU, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India; E-mail: drrshankar1@gmail.com
Online published on 21 March, 2015. Abstract Background Old age is a significant phase in person's life. Good health in this phase of life is the pre-requisite to good "Quality of life" and adequate nutrition is key to good health. The prevalence of chronic disease and functional disabilities including nutrition related problems increase steadily with the ageing. Ageing is associated with predictable changes in physiology and function, income, health and psychological well being with the potential impact on diet and nutrition status of the elderly. Objective: The specific objective of this study was to carry out dietary and an anthropometric assessment of the respondents for their nutritional profile. Methods-In order to assess the nutritional status of the elderly people, a field based cross sectional study was carried out in two selected villages in Rural Field Practice Area in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. Two hundred forty individuals were included in the study. Anthropometric used and indices computed were as per standard technique. Results The majority of study subjects (71.24%) had energy intake below the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) by ICMR. Almost all elderly individuals (98.75%) consumed iron in amount less than recommended dietary allowance (RDA). In all, 50% of the elderly people had BMI < 18.5 and these subjects were suffering from chronic energy deficiency (CED). Significantly higher percentage of individuals’ ≥70 years of age. (59.21%) had chronic energy deficiency than those between 60–69 years (45.12%) [χ2=4.17, df=1 p<0.02,]. Only 3.3% of elderly individuals were obese and had BMI >25. Chronic energy deficiency increases significantly with lowering of socio economic status [χ2=32.82, df=2 p<0.001]. Conclusion There was wide spread under nutrition in the study subjects with half of them suffering from varying degree of chronic energy deficiency. The Severity of CED increased with advancement of age. Energy intake was marginally less than RDA among the elderly population. Top Keywords Nutrition Status, Elderly Nutrition. Top |