Abstract

  The objectives of this study is to assess the nutritional status of elderly males and females of 60 years and above in two public elderly care houses, and to compare them with the seniors living in households with their families residing in the same areas around the public care houses in Khartoum State.

  All old age people living in the care houses participated in this study (55 elderly: 38 males and 17 females). These public care houses were Al- Diume Bahri public care house for males and El-Sajana public care house for females. Similar numbers of old persons living with their families were randomly selected to participate in this study from the areas surrounding the care houses. Data was collected through personal interviews guided by questionnaires (socio-demographics, health status, physical activities and food intake) in addition to anthropometric measurements (height, weight and BMI). Data was analyzed using computerized statistical package for social science (SPSS).

  Considering the age of the elderly, significantly higher percentage (52.5%) of the elderly in the public care houses their ages were more than 80 years old compared to those living with their families (27.3%). Regarding the educational level, illiteracy was significantly more common among the elderly in the public care houses compared to those living with their families (32.7% vs. 10.9%, respectively).

  Among the elderly in care houses, the major chronic diseases such as diabetes (DM) was significantly lower (compared to elderly living with their families (9.1% vs. 16.4%, respectively). Also, the presence of cardiovascular diseases among the elderly in the care houses was much lower compared to those living with their families (9.1% vs. 1.8%, respectively).

  A high percentage of the study participants who lived in the elderly care houses were found to be severely underweight (18.2%) compared to those living with their families (3.6%). On the other hand, a significantly higher percentage of overweight/obese participants were noticed among those who were living with their families (21.9% vs. 10.9%, respectively). Adequacy of the energy intake was found to be better among the elderly who live with their families (65%) compared to the ones in the public care houses (52.7%). Also, excessive energy intake was higher among the elderly group who live with their families (23.6%) compared to the elderly people who live in care houses (18.2%). The food frequency questionnaire data revealed that for both groups studied, most of the necessary food groups were taken regularly (daily – at least once a week), including grains, legumes, dairy products, cooked and fresh vegetables and fruits. However, a considerable percentage among the elderly living with their families rarely eats any type of meat. Unlike those living in the public care houses where they eat meat daily or least once a week.

  Although the foods offered to the elderly in the public care houses were found to be adequate, yet, many elderly were malnourished. Therefore, in-depth studies explaining these results were needed, meanwhile, providing of foods to every elderly according to his individual needs were urgently needed as to improve the nutritional status of these people. Therefore, the study recommends that policies should be taken by Sudan government to improve the nutritional status of the elderly in the public care houses via integrating nutrition/nutritionists as part of normal health care of these older individuals.

Keywords: Nutritional; Public

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Citation

Citation: Mohammed Altaher Abaker Abdegader., et al. “Assessment of Nutritional Status of Elderly Living in Public Care Houses and Those Living with Their Families in Khartoum State December 2017". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 4.2 (2020): 175-185.

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Copyright: © 2020 Mohammed Altaher Abaker Abdegader., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.