Nutrition and health-related quality of life in frail older adults.
BACKGROUND
Frail older adults are at risk for poor nutrition and frequently experience declining healthrelated quality of life (HR-QOL). The relationship between nutritional risk and HR-QOL although intuitive, has been rarely studied.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the independent association of nutritional risk with HR-QOL in frail older adults.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey. Data were collected by interviewer-administered questionnaire. Nutritional risk was measured by SCREEN (Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition) and HR-QOL by perceived health status and report of number of days in the past month where physical or mental health was not good, or where activities were limited. Frail (n=367) seniors were recruited from 23 community service providers. A wide variety of covariates were also measured. Multivariate modeling based on a conceptual model was used to identify factors associated with HR-QOL.


RESULTS
Nutritional risk appears to be a significant and important factor associated with HR-QOL. Other significant covariates were: falls, social supports, social activity, health behaviours, pain and medication use.


CONCLUSIONS
Nutritional risk as measured by SCREEN appears to be a significant covariate in explaining differences in HRQOL among frail older adults. Further work should determine if nutritional risk predicts changes in HR-QOL over time.
Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1. hkeller@uoguelph.ca
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D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009864:Ontario; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires