Malnutrition in the Elderly: A Recent Update

Malnutrition is a common problem in the elderly. Malnutrition prevalence has been reported to be between 5 and 10% in elderly living at home and quite more in hospitilized ones. It has been observed that elderly people in need of home care services face malnutrition problems more frequently than general elderly population. Elderly people cared by home care services, especially when they have chronic, mental, or physical disease, they are inclined to be at a higher risk for malnutrition. If malnutrition is not detected and properly managed, it makes it difficult to treat other existing, clinical diseases. On the other hand, it causes increase of complications related to the patient and accordingly prone to higher morbidity and mortality risks. Therefore, all the elderly patients admitted to home care service have to be examined and evaluated for malnurtition risk and managed accordingly