Loss of muscle and fat mass after institutionalization: attention to older

INTRODUCTION: Aging causes, simultaneously, profound changes in body composition and nutritional status of the elderly. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the loss of muscle and adipose mass in residents of a Long Term Care Institution for the Elderly. METHODS: Observational and longitudinal study with an interval of three months between the two evaluations. Participated 34 elderly (mean age: 81.8 years; 23.5% male; 76.5% female), living in an Long Term Care Institution for the Elderly of Teresina, Piauí. Anthropometric measures of body composition, measured in triplicate by the same researcher, for Lange compass and tape measure the circumference of the calf and triceps skinfold were used to classify the nutritional status. RESULTS: At baseline, 24 (70.6%) and 16 (47.1%) individuals had protein malnutrition and energy malnutrition according circumference of the calf and triceps skinfold, respectively. After three months, there was an increase of protein malnutrition and energy malnutrition for 27 (79.4% - circumference of the calf) and 17 (50% - triceps skinfold) subjects, with no statistical significance between genders. However, there were significant differences between the averages of circumference of the calf (29.9 ± 2.9, 28.8 ± 2.6; p < 0.05) of the elderly aged 70 to 79. This worsening of the nutritional status, from losses in the reserves of muscle and fat mass, is reaffirmed, even with significant differences, when comparing frequencies and distributions of circumference of the calf and triceps skinfold between the two evaluations of the total studied. CONCLUSION: The nutritional evaluations have shown significant changes in body composition of institutionalized elderly, generating nutritional risk that requires attention to the elderly.