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

Abstract

Background: The 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. Objectives: To assess the nutritional status of the functionality and to analyze the association between nutritional status and functional ability of the selected Bangladeshi geriatric population. Methods: A 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. Results: According 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. Conclusions: Geriatric malnutrition can accelerate disability conditions, which can lead to early functional aging and subsequent loss in the quality of life.

Functional independence among a geriatric population in Karachi, Pakistan: A cross sectional study.

“…18 Higher frequency was found in a study conducted in 2020 in Bangladesh (80%). 13 This could possibly be due to the sociodemographic, economic factors, research methodologies which vary on study-to-study basis; and the presence of a compact family support system in Bangladesh which makes dependence upon other family members more likely. A study done upon elderly population in Poland showed that 35.75% of the participants had reportedly at least one problem with IADLs.…”

“…7 Similarly nutritional decline and weight loss have been linked with impairment in functional independence in the existing literature. 12, 13 A study done in 2018 in Karachi shows that 33.5% of the elderly participants were at higher risk of malnutrition and 35.5% were dependent. 12 This concept has been explored in the development of 'sarcopenia', which is defined as progressive muscle mass loss and decrease in strength/ physical performance.…”