Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-8-2018
Publication Title
Public Health Nutrition
Pages
9
Abstract
Objective
To assess the prevalence of nutritional risk among an ethnically diverse group of urban community-dwelling older adults and to explore if risk varied by race/ethnicity.
Design
Demographic characteristics, Katz’s activities of daily living and health-care resource utilization were ascertained cross-sectionally via telephone surveys with trained interviewers. Nutrition risk and nutrition symptomology were assessed via the abridged Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (abPG-SGA); scores of ≥6 points delineated ‘high’ nutrition risk. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were conducted.
Setting
Urban.
Participants
White, Black or Hispanic community-dwelling adults, ≥55 years of age, fluent in English or Spanish, residing in the city limits of Chicago, IL, USA.
Results
A total of 1001 participants (37 % white, 37 % Black, 26 % Hispanic) were surveyed. On average, participants were 66·9 years old, predominantly female and overweight/obese. Twenty-six per cent (n 263) of participants were classified as ‘high’ nutrition risk with 24, 14 and 31 % endorsing decreased oral intake, weight loss and compromised functioning, respectively. Black respondents constituted the greatest proportion of those with high risk scores, yet Hispanic participants displayed the most concerning nutrition risk profiles. Younger age, female sex, Black or Hispanic race/ethnicity, emergency room visits, eating alone and taking three or more different prescribed or over-the-counter drugs daily were significantly associated with high risk scores (P<0·05).
Conclusions
One in four older adults living in an urban community prone to health disparities was classified as ‘high’ nutrition risk. Targeted interventions to promote healthy ageing are needed, especially for overweight/obese and minority community members.
Recommended Citation
Sheean, Patricia M.; Farrar, Isabel C.; Sulo, Suela; Partridge, Jamie; Schiffer, Linda; and Fitzgibbon, Marian. Nutrition Risk Among an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Public Health Nutrition, , : 9, 2018. Retrieved from Loyola eCommons, Nursing: School of Nursing Faculty Publications and Other Works, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018002902
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Statement
© The Authors 2018
Comments
Author Posting. © The Authors 2018. This article is posted here by permission of Cambridge University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in Public Health Nutrition, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018002902