Assessment of the nutritional status of elderly people in a 24-hour care institution

Introduction
Nutritional disorders diagnosed among elderly people staying in 24-hour care institutions lead to many irregularities. Weight loss is a strong predictor of complications and death. It is important to monitor nutritional status, detect people at risk of malnutrition early, and take appropriate interventions.

Aim of the study
Assessment of the nutritional status of patients over 65 years old based on selected indicators: the level of prealbumin, albumin, and transferrin, total lymphocyte count (TLC), body mass index (BMI), and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) scale.

Material and methods
The study included 104 residents staying in a 24-hour care institution. Nutritional status was assessed using the MNA scale, BMI, levels of prealbumin, albumin, and transferrin, and the TLC. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 24 for Windows. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results
Malnutrition was diagnosed based on albumin in 57.8% of the patients, prealbumin in 74%, transferrin in 46.2%, and TLC in 26.2%. Based on BMI, 36.5% of patients were underweight. According to MNA, 51.5% were at risk of malnutrition, and malnutrition was diagnosed in 46.6%. Prealbumin and transferrin values were significantly related with each other p < 0.001. MNA results showed a relationship with the values of transferrin (rho = 0.22, p = 0.023) and prealbumin (rho = 0.20, p = 0.043).

Conclusions
Among the residents of care institutions, there is a significant degree of malnutrition or its risk. The MNA scale, transferrin and prealbumin levels confirm the effectiveness of the recognition of nutritional disorders and validity of its regular assessment. People with nutritional disorders should undergo nutritional intervention to prevent the consequences of malnutrition.