Saruna Ghimire|Binaya Kurmar Baral|Karen E. Callahan
Nutritional assessment of community-dwelling older adults in rural Nepal
University of Nevada, Las Vegas|Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital|University of Nevada, Las Vegas
demographic transition nepal like many developing countries resulted burgeoning elderly population whose health status currently monitored one pillar health adequate nutrition yet little known nutritional health status elderly nepal financial material personnel limitations nepals health delivery services necessitate health screening instruments require minimal clinical staff resources knowledge nutritional assessment tool validated nepal therefore aims twofold assess nutritional status elderly population one typical nepali village okharpauwa nuwakot district nepal concurrently validate mini nutritional assessment mna toola crosssectional field study conducted sample 242 elderly people okharpauwa nepal obtain prevalence malnutrition differences demographic lifestyle factors malnourished risk malnourishment adequate nutritional status analyzed mna tool evaluated using receiver operating characteristic roc curve analysis sensitivity specificity diagnostic accuracy calculated111 males 131 females mean age 69874 years participated study mean bmi participants 21439 kgm2 mean mna score 19342 bmi significantly correlated total mna score r 058 p0001 diagnostic accuracy sensitivity specificity mna 81 86 67 respectively 242 elderly sampled 24 malnourished 65 risk malnutrition malnutrition prevalent among females 29 males 18 prevalent among marginalized dalit ethnic group 40 elderly persons married literate better nutritional health counterpartsthe mna appears valid sensitive tool rapid nutritional screening elderly nepal prevalence malnutrition high among nepalese elderly okharpauwa vdc requires urgent health monitoring management attention