title: B vitamin status, dietary intake and length of stay in a sample of elderly rehabilitation patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationships between previous diet, biomarkers of selected B vitamins, nutritional status and length of stay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Geriatric rehabilitation patients, Sydney, Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty two consenting patients with normal serum creatinine levels and no dementia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum vitamin B12, plasma vitamin B6, serum and erythrocyte folate, homocysteine and methylmalonic acid (MMA) concentrations; dietary intake using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and nutritional assessment using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Length of stay data were collected from medical records after discharge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The age was 80 ± 8 year (mean ± SD), BMI 26.4 ± 6.8 kg/m2 and MNA score 22 ± 3 indicating some risk of malnutrition. Deficiencies of vitamins B6, B12 and folate were found in 30, 22 and 5 subjects respectively. Length of stay was positively correlated with age and MMA (Spearman's correlation 0.4, p<0.01 and 0.28, p<0.05 respectively) and negatively correlated with albumin, vitamin B6 and MNA score (Spearman's correlation -0.35, -0.33 and -0.29, p<0.05). After adjustment for age and sex, ln vitamin B6 and ln MMA concentrations were significant in predicting ln LOS (p=0.006 and p=0.014 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study indicates a high risk of vitamin B deficiencies in the elderly and suggests that deficiencies of vitamins B6 and B12 are associated with length of stay. This is concerning as B vitamin status is rarely fully assessed.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Molecular Bioscience, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: O'Leary
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Flood
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petocz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Allman-Farinelli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000418:Albumins / Q000378:metabolism; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008764:Methylmalonic Acid / Q000097:blood; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D014803:Vitamin B Complex / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood*; D014804:Vitamin B Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D014803:Vitamin B Complex; D008764:Methylmalonic Acid