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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Assessing nutrition in older patients | | Author(s) | Raymond Grixti |
| Journal title | Elderly Care, vol 11, issue 3, May 1999 |
| Pages | pp 12-15 |
| Keywords | Malnutrition ; Nutrition ; Admission [hospitals] ; Geriatric hospitals ; Malta. |
| Annotation | Malnutrition is associated with poor quality of life of older people, and with higher morbidity and mortality in this age group. The author discusses the nutritional state of older patients admitted to an elderly care hospital in Malta. The study on which this was based also aimed to: identify possible sources from where patients were admitted malnourished, if found to be the case; identify possible causes of malnutrition, especially in patients admitted from the community; and estimate expenditure involved in any measures taken to correct malnutrition during hospitalisation. Of 202 patients in the study, 65 (32%) were assessed as undernourished, 56 had low serum albumin levels, 31 had a lower than normal protein level, and 22 had low value for both serum albumin and serum protein. Further studies are required, using different methods of nutritional assessment. These could be followed by setting standard policies and guidelines regarding older people's nutritional needs, which could also help professional health care workers in taking remedial action or giving advice. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990528002 A |
| Classmark | CSM: CF: LD:QKH: LDA: 76W |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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