Author(s)

Noureddine Menadi¹, Ghozlane Kelkoul¹, Ilhem Hassani¹, Belabbes Merrakchi², Slimane Belbraouet^3*

¹Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université Djilali Liabès, Sidi-Bel-Abbès, Algérie.
²établissement Public de Santé de Proximité, Sidi Lahcen, Sidi-Bel-Abbès, Algérie.
³école des Sciences des Aliments, de Nutrition et d’études Familiales (ESANEF), Université de Moncton, Moncton, Canada.

Background: Malnutrition is common for elderly representing a major public health problem with many consequences for the health. Objectives: To assess the nutritional status of a population of elderly living at home. Subjects and Methods: The assessment was conducted from a population of elderly living at home who saw their doctor in the office of a public health centre. For each subject, the anthropometric parameters (weight, height, body mass index (BMI)), biochemical (serum albumin) and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tools have been measured and calculated. Results: 202 mostly female (56.44%) subjects aged 73.59 ± 5.87 years were included in this study. 78% were suffering from chronic diseases, the most frequent of which was diabetes (32%). 7.43% of the diseased population have BMI < 21, 5.94% experienced undernutrition (MNA < 17) and 68.81% are at risk of malnutrition (MNA: 17 - 23.50). According to serum albumin, 8.91% of the sample is considered to be malnourished. Conclusion: The MNA has proven to be a screening tool more sensitive than other tools (BMI and albumin) in the evaluation of nutritional risk.

Elderly, Nutritional Status, Anthropometric Parameters, Mini Nutritional Assessment, Albumin

Menadi, N. , Kelkoul, G. , Hassani, I. , Merrakchi, B. and Belbraouet, S. (2015) Assessment of the Nutritional Status of 202 Elderly People Living at Home in Sidi-Bel-Abbès (Western Algeria). Food and Nutrition Sciences, 6, 12-17. doi: 10.4236/fns.2015.61002.