Malnutrition in care home residents with dementia

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition, health & aging Vol. 18; no. 6; pp. 595 - 600
• Main Authors: Meijers, Judith M. M, Schols, J. M. G. A, Halfens, R. J. G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Springer-Verlag 2014; Springer Paris; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Biological and medical sciences; Body Height; Body Weight; Comorbidity; Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dementia; Dementia - epidemiology; Eating; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Homes for the Aged; Humans; Male; malnutrition; Malnutrition - epidemiology; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic diseases; Netherlands - epidemiology; Neurosciences; Nursing Homes; Nutrition; Nutritional Status; Other nutritional diseases (malnutrition, nutritional and vitamin deficiencies...); Prevalence; Primary Care Medicine; Quality of Life Research; questionnaires; Surveys and Questionnaires; Universities; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Weight Loss; Netherlands; dementia; care home; Malnutrition; LPZ; Human; Nutrition disorder; Resident (student); Metabolic diseases; Resident; Degenerative disease; Care; Dementia
• ISSN: 1279-7707; 1760-4788
• DOI: 10.1007/s12603-014-0006-6

Objectives: To investigate the malnutrition prevalence in Dutch care home residents with dementia over the years. Secondly, to examine the relationship of malnutrition and dementia and the role of care dependency and co-morbidity within this relationship. Design: This study is a secondary analysis of data of the annual independent Dutch National Prevalence Measurement of Care Problems of Maastricht University. The design involves a cross-sectional, multicenter point prevalence measurement. Setting: Care homes. Participants: 75399 residents older than 65 years (4523 resident with dementia) participated over 5 years (2006–2010). Sixty organizations measured 4 times, 31 organizations 3 times, 68 organizations 2 times, 511 organizations 1 time. Measurements: A standardized questionnaire was used to register amongst others data of weight, height, nutritional intake, undesired weight loss, comorbidity, dementia, and care dependency. Results: The study was able to show that there is a significant decline in malnutrition prevalence in the group of non-demented residents over the years (Non-demented group p <0.001). The prevalence of malnutrition in the demented group showed no significant reduction over the years. GEE analysis showed that malnutrition and dementia are related and that care dependency and age are important influencing factors in this relation. Conclusion: The results show that compared to the non-demented residents, the prevalence of malnutrition does not decline in demented care home residents over the years. Moreover, the findings of this study stress that malnutrition and dementia are related, while care dependency and age are confounding factors in this relationship.