Abdul Momin Rizwan Ahmad, Katrina Aminah Ronis.
A public health nutritional assessment of elderly in Islamabad: a mixed method study.
Pak J Public Health Jan ;3(4):2-5.

Introduction:According to the current estimates, the world’s elderly population is 605 million and by 2025, this will reach 1.2 billion. The WHO report (1998) said that at that time, the elderly population of Pakistan constituted 5.6% of the country’s total population which would rise to as much as around 11% by the year 2025. With the prolonging of life, comes the added burden of non-communicable diseases, the on-going treatment and management within a healthcare setting and within the home setting. Evidence suggests a well-nourished elderly person will maintain greater independence, i.e. they will be more physically and mentally prepared to cope with senior years. The rationale for this study is that in Pakistan, there is a dearth of data on the nutritional status of the elderly. Methods:This study was conducted in urban Islamabad which is divided into different residential sectors. A mixed method approach was utilized: the quantitative method was a face-to face survey (n = 300) (MNA - Mini Nutritional Assessment) and the qualitative method was a semi-structured face-to-face interview (n = 9) to provide greater insight into the survey findings. The study population included elderly males and females, over 60 years of age, as defined by the WHO. Data analysis included descriptive statistics to find the frequencies and the percentages of all the variables. Inferential statistics was used to find the cross tabulation between outcome and explanatory variables. For the qualitative data, the thematic analysis was performed manually. Results:Of the 300 study participants, 52% (n=156) were males and 48% (n=144) were females. Cross tabulation of the socio-demographic variables and the nutritional status of the elderly revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between age of respondents and their nutritional status however there was no statistically significant relationship between gender, sector (place of residence), education and income of respondents and their nutritional status. When the study participants were asked about their food intake and correct foods to consume, most of them had poor knowledge. Conclusion:According to a standardized assessment tool, this study revealed that 48.7% of the elderly surveyed had a normal nutritional status, 43.3% were at risk of malnutrition, while 8% were malnourished. Accessing elderly participants to interview was a challenge and further research is needed in this field of public health due to the burgeoning population pyramid for older persons. From a policy perspective, policy makers should be sensitized to this population group with provincial health policies including the nutritional needs of our aging population as major policy goals.

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