Research in Cardiovascular Medicine (Jan 2017)

Nutritional status assessment of the elderly patients with congestive heart failure by mini nutritional assessment test

  • Shirin Hosseini,
  • Seyed Ali Keshavarz,
  • Ahmad Amin,
  • Hooman Bakshandeh,
  • Majid Maleki,
  • Alireza Shahinfard,
  • Shadi Hosseini,
  • Mona Heidarali

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5812/cardiovascmed.31898
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 1 – 1

Abstract

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Background: Malnutrition is a common problem among elderly patients, especially those with heart failure, and is known to increase mortality rates. Objectives: The current study evaluated nutritional status to identify changes in the elderly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) during hospital stay. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 225 CHF hospitalized elderly patients, comprised of 154 males (68.4%) and 71 females (31.6%) at ameanage of 71.1±7.35 years. The mini nutritional assessment (MNA) was performed to estimate functional, cognitive and nutritional status. The MNA, an18-item tool to evaluate subjective and objective findings, including anthropometric measurements for nutritional risk, is found to be sensitive, specific and accurate in identifying elderly people at nutritional risk. Results: According to the MNA questionnaire, 9.8% of the elderly were malnourished, 80.9% at risk of malnutrition and 9.3% well nourished.Weight loss, bedsore, and level of knowledge and income had a significant relationship with nutritional status based on the MNA (P value < 0.05). Conclusions: Considering the high percentage of elderly patients with malnutrition or at risk of malnutrition, the need for nutritional intervention is obvious. The MNA seems to be a reliable tool to identify individuals at risk of malnutrition. To decrease hospital stay duration and cost, application of the MNA is suggested.

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