JAMDA
Volume 8, Issue 9 , Pages 582-584, November 2007

Malnutrition and Depression among Community-dwelling Elderly People

  • Marcos Aparecido Sarria Cabrera, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Internal Medicine, State University of Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to Marcos A. S. Cabrera, Rua Montese 65-A, Higienópolis, Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil 86015-020.
    • ,
  • Arthur Eumann Mesas, MS

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, State University of Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil.
    • ,
  • André Ricardo Lopes Garcia, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Internal Medicine, State University of Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil
    • ,
  • Selma Maffei de Andrade, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, State University of Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil.

published online 18 October 2007.

Objectives

This study had the objective of analyzing the association between nutritional deficit and the presence of depression among community-dwelling elderly people.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Population of elderly people living in one district of a city in southern Brazil. Participants: The subjects were 267 individuals aged 60 to 74 years who did not present any significant functional incapacity.

Measures

Nutritional deficit was considered to be present if the individuals were classified as malnourished or at nutritional risk by means of the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Depression was identified as regular use of antidepressives or scores higher than 5 points on the Geriatric Depression Scale.

Results

A majority of the elderly individuals were female (59.9%). Nutritional deficit was identified in 58 elderly people (21.7%) and depression in 65 (24.3%). Nutritional deficit presented a significant association with depression, even after adjusting for control variables such as low schooling, low socioeconomic level, and smoking (OR = 4.38; 95% CI: 2.23–8.64; P < .001).

Conclusions

The results showed that there was an independent association between nutritional deficit and depression in this population of elderly people, which emphasizes the importance of early identification of depression among individuals with nutritional disorders.

Keywords: Aged, depression, malnutrition

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 The authors have no conflicts of interest.

 This research was supported in part by Araucária Fundation and Capes.

PII: S1525-8610(07)00347-7

doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2007.07.008

JAMDA
Volume 8, Issue 9 , Pages 582-584, November 2007

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