Prevalencia de desnutrición en adultos mayores al ingreso en el área de clínica del Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga. Cuenca, 2024

Abstract

Background: malnutrition in older adults is a problem for health care since it causes prolonged hospital stay, increased readmissions, incident disability and increased health care costs. In the latter, the issue of malnutrition in older adults is of primary importance, which is the subject of the present investigation. Objective: to determine the prevalence of malnutrition in older adults admitted to the clinical area of the José Carrasco Arteaga Hospital. Methods: quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study. The population included 600 older adults hospitalized in the clinical area of the José Carrasco Arteaga Hospital, and the sample consisted of 247 participants. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was applied. The data were processed in SPSS 21 software (trial version). The results were presented in tables of frequencies and percentages. Results: the study population was characterized by a predominance of men (57.9%), the largest age subgroup was 65 to 75 years (50.2%), with a mean of 77 years, the majority resided in the urban area (58.7%), a large proportion were married (61.9%) and retired (75.3%). The prevalence of malnutrition observed according to the NAM was 21.1% and the risk of malnutrition was 43.7%. Conclusion: the population with highest prevalence at admission are to the risk of malnutrition and malnutrition.