JAMDA
Volume 9, Issue 5 , Pages 319-326, June 2008

Personal Care Assistance Needs of Obese Elders Entering Nursing Homes

  • Holly C. Felix, PhD, MPA

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to Holly C. Felix, PhD, MPA, Department of Health Policy and Management, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham Street, Slot 820, Little Rock, AR 72205.

Department of Health Policy and Management, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.

published online 01 May 2008.

Objectives

To assess the personal care assistance needs of obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥30) elders (≥65 years) entering nursing homes in Arkansas between 1999 and 2004.

Design

Retrospective cross-sectional study, using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics including multivariate logistic regression.

Setting

The United States

Participants

Participants were 47,932 unduplicated elders (≥65 years) upon first admission to a nursing home in Arkansas from 1999 through 2004.

Measurements

Clinical assessment of height and weight and personal care assistance needs reported on the initial Minimum Data Set (MDS) admission assessment.

Results

Obese elders had significantly (P < .01) greater odds (1.18 to 1.70) of needing extensive assistance to perform the selected activities of daily living (ADLs) compared to non-obese (BMI 16 to 29) elders.

Conclusions

Excessive body weight of newly admitted elderly nursing home residents is associated with greater use of personal care staff to perform selected ADLs. Other research has shown that increased ADL dependency is associated with increased cost, which coupled with the current finding suggests rising rates of obesity among the elderly and those entering nursing homes may strain the long-term care (LTC) system in terms of staffing and cost. Interventions to address these potential impacts should therefore be developed and tested.

Keywords: Obesity, long-term care, homes for the aged, activities of daily living

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 Institutional support for the research described in this paper was provided by the Center for the Study of Obesity, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The author was solely responsible for the conceptualization, design and execution of the study and preparation of the manuscript. There are no known conflicts of interest for me with the publication of this manuscript. I am an employee of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Neither UAMS nor I will financially benefit from the publication of this manuscript.

PII: S1525-8610(08)00028-5

doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2008.01.011

JAMDA
Volume 9, Issue 5 , Pages 319-326, June 2008

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