title: Food intake and nutritional status of hospitalised older people.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Disease is influenced by the nutritional status of the individual. We have assessed the relationship between nutritional status and food intake among recently hospitalised older people.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was undertaken with 240 older people in a hospital that provides care for the public and private healthcare systems. Nutritional status was classified by the MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) into: malnourished, risk of malnutrition and without malnutrition. Food intake was estimated by the reported food intake during a typical day. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the medians and the correlation coefficient of Spearman to verify the relationship between the consumption of energy, protein and vitamin C and MNA scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  33.8% were classified as adequate regarding nutritional status; 37.1% were classified as being at risk of malnutrition and 29.1% were classified as malnourished. The malnourished individuals reported significantly less energy and nutrient intake than those at risk of malnutrition or those without malnutrition (P = 0.001). Not all nutrient intake, just some (iron, cholesterol and fibre), were lower in malnourished people.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Deterioration of the nutritional status of older people is accompanied by a reduction in energy and some nutrient intake. The investigation of food intake in older people could provide important information about nutritional risk.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Rita Marques
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Vânia Aparecida
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Leandro-Merhi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data