The study objective was to determine the nutritional status and its association with sociodemographic characteristics and health complaints of older persons presenting at the General Outpatients Department (GOPD) Clinic of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to select 500 consecutively presenting participants aged 60 years and older between September and December, 2009. The Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tool and body mass index were used to assess undernutrition and overweight, respectively. The prevalence of nutritional problems was 61.9% (undernutrition = 7.8% and overweight = 54.1%). Being unmarried (P < 0.001), engagement in a job after the age of 60 years (P < 0.001), constipation (P = 0.009), rectal bleeding (P = 0.008), and oral problems (mouth, teeth, and tongue) were significantly (P < 0.001) associated with undernutrition. Younger age (P = 0.050) and female gender (P = 0.011) were significantly associated with being overweight. Logistic regression analysis showed being unmarried OR = 1.355 (95%CI 1.075-1.708) to be the most important factor for the development of undernutrition. The high prevalence of nutritional problems in this study underscores the need for intervention in this population. Correlation analysis (Pearson's) showed a positive association between BMI and MNA scores (r = 0.152, P = 0.001).

Aims: To determine the 10-year cardiovascular risk (CV) and its association with socio-demographic characteristics of hypertensive patients.  Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Family Medicine Clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, between June 2013 and September 2013. Methodology: We included 345 hypertensive patients (84 men, 261 women) aged 30 years and above with no clinical history suggestive of cardiovascular disease. Data collection was with an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire, physical examination and blood investigation. CV risk was determined by using General Framingham cardiovascular risk profile for use in primary care. Results: The mean+ SD age of the 345 respondents was 57.4+9.7 years and 75.7% were female. High proportion of the respondents (42.3%) were in the high CV risk category of 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease while 27.0% and 30.7% had intermediate and low CV risk respectively.  CV risk was significantly associated with age (p < .001), sex (p < .001), family type (p= .047), level of education (p=.02), employment status (p<.001) and occupational class (p=.007). Logistic regression showed advanced age (OR=0.014, 95% CI =0.002-0.094) and male gender (OR=26.765, 95% CI = 8.802-81.383) as the predictors of high CV risk. Conclusion: The findings show that CV risk assessment should be part of patients’ evaluation by physicians and necessary intervention should be instituted on time in order to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Nigeria.

Background: Biomarkers, shock index and modified early warning score (MEWS) are of public health importance because identification and prompt attention to them have been found to reduce mortality among older patients on admission.Objectives: A study was undertaken to determine the biomarkers, shock index and MEWS that predict mortality on admission among older medical hospital inpatients.Methods: This was a prospective study of 450 patients (≥ 60 years) on the medical wards of University College Hospital, Ibadan. Biomarkers recommended by the National Institute on Aging such as blood pressure, heart rate and pulse rate (cardiovascular functioning); cholesterol and triglycerides (metabolic processes); T-cell counts (immune system status) and weight, body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio (indicators of obesity, chronic metabolic disorders and fat deposits) were assessed. Vital signs were recorded on admission and used to calculate the shock index and MEWS. Multivariate and survival analyses were carried out at p 0.05.Results: Baseline temperature ≥ 39.0°c (p = 0.049), pulse rate ≥ 100 beats/minute (p = 0.034), systolic blood pressure (SBP) 120 mmHg (p = 0.048), shock index ≥1.0 (p = 0.041), age shock index (p = 0.032) and critical illness score (MEWS ≥5) p = 0.019 were significantly associated with mortality. Independent predictors of mortality on Cox regression analysis were temperature ≥ 39.0°C (HR = 3.317 [1.281–8.590]) and SBP 120 mmHg (HR = 1.845 [1.025–3.322]).Conclusion: Prompt identification and management of fever and low blood pressure should improve the survival of older medical hospital inpatients.