CORDEIRO, S. A.; ARRUDA, SUSANA; CORDEIRO, SUSANA ARRUDA; http://lattes.cnpq.br/5931235099477105; CORDEIRO, Susana Arruda.
Abstract:
The growth in the number of elderly people contributed to a change in the morbidity profile
represented by the increase in non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs), which are
characterized by a grouping of pathologies with numerous causes and risk factors, long latency
periods and prolonged course as which are the leading cause of death in the world. Among the
NCDs, diabetes mellitus represents a serious public health problem, due to its high worldwide
prevalence. Nutritional assessment is an important aspect in this context, because the elderly
have peculiar conditions that compromise their nutritional status. Therefore, the present study
aimed to identify the nutritional risk in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the city
of Cuité/PB, through the application of the Mini Nutritional Assessment. For the present study,
categorized anthropometric variables were also analyzed. The research is a prospective cross-
sectional study, observational clinical type, involving elderly diabetics aged ≥ 60 years, from
August 2018 to July 2019. The study was carried out with 102 participants, of which 18 (17.65
%) were men and 84 (82.35%) were women. The average BMI for men suggests that the
nutritional status is classified as overweight, while for women, the nutritional status is classified
as eutrophic. When analyzing the data referring to the Waist/Hip Ratio (WHR), an average of
1.05cm (SD = ±0.02) was obtained for men and 0.96cm (SD = ±0.07) for women. When
analyzing the WHR data with the gender of the interviewees, it is possible to observe that the
highest rate of inadequacy was concentrated in the female sex, given that 100% of the sample
presented inadequate WHR according to the cut-off points. According to the MAN results, 64%
of the evaluated sample was at risk of malnutrition. Regarding SGA, 85.71% of men were at
risk of malnutrition and 61% of women. It is concluded that the use of MAN proved to be
effective for evaluating and classifying the nutritional status of the observed sample, thus
allowing an early diagnosis of the risk of malnutrition in the elderly.