title: Managing undernutrition in the elderly - prevention is better than cure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Undernutrition in the elderly is common and can be associated with adverse medical consequences, contributing to frailty, morbidity, hospitalisation and mortality.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article provides guidelines for screening for undernutrition in general practice, and suggests strategies to address undernutrition in older patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Screening for undernutrition in general practice helps focus time and resources on people at greatest risk. Early identification and management of people at risk of undernutrition is important because it is difficult to reverse its adverse effects, once established.
authors.affiliation: RMIT, Victoria, Australia. flanagan@pac.com.au
authors.forename: Damian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Flanagan
authors.forename: Therese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Renuka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Visvanathan
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Charlton
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thesing
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Quigley
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walther
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D058006:General Practice; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology