The Association of Nutrition Quality with Frailty Syndrome among the Elderly

Katarzyna Rolf, Aurelia Santoro, Morena Martucci and Barbara Pietruszka
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Katarzyna Rolf: Department of Food Technology and Human Nutrition, University of Rzeszow, 35-601 Rzeszow, Poland
Aurelia Santoro: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy
Morena Martucci: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy
Barbara Pietruszka: Department of Human Nutrition, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: Low diet quality among the elderly may be correlated with some diseases, including Frailty Syndrome (FS). This decline in function restricts the activity of older people, resulting in higher assistance costs. The aim of this study was to increase knowledge of diet quality predictors. Dietary intake was assessed among 196 individuals aged 60+ years using the three-day record method and FS by Fried’s criteria. Based on the compliance with the intake recommendation (% of EAR/AI), we distinguished three clusters that were homogeneous in terms of the nutritional quality of the diet, using Kohonen’s neural networks. The prevalence of frailty in the entire group was 3.1%, pre-frailty 38.8%, and non-frailty 58.1%. Cluster 1 (91 people with the lowest diet quality) was composed of a statistically significant higher number of the elderly attending day care centers (20.7%), frail (6.9%), pre-frail (51.7%), very low vitamin D intake (23.8% of AI), using sun cream during the summer months (always 19.8% or often 39.6%), having diabetes (20.7%), having leg pain when walking (43.1%), and deteriorating health during the last year (53.5%). The study suggests the need to take initiatives leading to the improvement of the diet of the elderly, especially in day care senior centers, where there are more frail individuals, including nutritional education for the elderly and their caregivers.

Keywords: elderly; diet; frailty; vitamin D; day care senior centers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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