title: Malnutrition in free-living elderly in rural south India: prevalence and risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of malnutrition among free-living elderly in a rural population of south India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study. Nutritional status was assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire, which is an eighteen-item nutritional screening instrument used in the elderly.
  
  
  METHODS
  Kaniyambadi block, a rural development block in the state of Tamil Nadu, south India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community-dwelling elderly (aged 60 years and above).
  
  
  RESULTS
  As evaluated by the MNA, 14 % of the 227 subjects were malnourished and 49 % were at risk of malnourishment. No significant difference was found between men and women. The majority of the elderly were living with their children, had no income and consumed three meals per day. Older age (P < 0.001), decreased food intake (P < 0.001) and consuming fewer meals (P < 0.001) were independently associated with lower MNA scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than 60 % of the subjects had low MNA scores (<23.5) indicating that deficient protein-energy intake is common among rural elderly of south India and requires more attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. vedantam.aditya@gmail.com
authors.forename: Aditya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vedantam
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Nicholas Vijay
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: John
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires