Avaliação nutricional, qualidade de vida e risco de sarcopenia em idosos frequentadores de instituições day care de São Paulo e Ribeirão Preto

Abstract

Objective: To investigate associations among nutritional status, self-perceived health and risk of sarcopenia in people attending Day Care institutions, comparing elderly people in the capital and in the interior of São Paulo. Methods: Cross-sectional study, carried out in two Day Care institutions, one in São Paulo and the other in Ribeirão Preto, with the convenience sample consisting of 28 elderly people. Individual interviews were conducted to obtain personal data and self-perceived health. To assess nutritional status and risk of sarcopenia, anthropometric data (weight, height, skin folds and body circumferences) were measured and the SARC-F questionnaire was applied, translated and validated into Portuguese. To assess the nutritional risk of the elderly, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MAN) was used and the appetite of the elderly was investigated by the Simplified Nutritional Questionnaire for Appetite (QNSA). The statistical analysis was performed with the aid of the SPSS v.21 software, at a significance level of 5%. The chi-square test was used to investigate the associations among the variables obtained. Results: There was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.035) in self-perceived health among the elderly in both cities, and no elderly person in the capital considered their health “excellent”. The elderly in the interior had an average body mass index significantly lower than the value found in the capital (p = 0.013). Statistically significant differences were also observed for arm circumference (p <0.001) and skinfold triceps (p <0.001). MAN’s results demonstrated nutritional risk for the elderly in both cities. On the other hand, the average SARC-F scores in both cities did not indicate a significant risk of sarcopenia. Conclusions: Although the risk of sarcopenia was not observed in the majority of the studied population, the results suggested that elderly people in the countryside have a better perception of their health, but with anthropometric indicators indicative of nutritional deficit