Obesity and its Association with Food Consumption, Diabetes Mellitus, and Acute Myocardial Infarction in the Elderly

Abstract

BackgroundObesity affects a large part of elderly individuals worldwide and is considered a risk predictor for the development of chronic diseases such as cardiac diseases, the leading causes of death in the elderly population.ObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence of obesity and associated factors, with emphasis on the occurrence of other diseases and on food consumption in elderly individuals treated at the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS).MethodsCross-sectional sampling study performed in the city of Goiânia (Brazil) including elderly individuals (≥ 60 years) receiving primary care. During home visits, we performed anthropometric measurements and applied a structured, standardized, and pre-tested questionnaire assessing socioeconomic, demographic and lifestyle conditions, occurrence of diseases, and food consumption. We performed multiple Poisson regression analysis using a hierarchical model and adopting a significance level of 5%.ResultsWe evaluated 418 elderly patients with a mean age of 70.7 ± 7 years. Their body mass indices had a mean value of 27.0 kg/m2 and were higher in women than in men (27.4 kg/m2 versus 26.1 kg/m2, respectively, p = 0.017). Obesity had a prevalence of 49.0%, a risk 1.87 times higher between the ages of 60-69 years and 70-79 years, and a rate 1.4 times higher among individuals with more than four morbidities. On multivariate analysis, the factors associated with obesity were age 60-69 and 70-79 years, inadequate consumption of whole-wheat grains and adequate consumption of fruit, musculoskeletal diseases, diabetes mellitus, and acute myocardial infarction.ConclusionsObesity had a high prevalence in the evaluated elderly population and was associated with food consumption, musculoskeletal disease, diabetes mellitus, and acute myocardial infarction.

Body fat percentage assessment by skinfold equation, bioimpedance and densitometry in older adults

“…Analyses for this study used data from the Elderly Project Goiânia [ 2 , 18 , 25 – 27 ], which aims to evaluate the health and nutritional status in older adults aged 60 years and older. It is a cohort study with multi-stage sampling of non-institutionalized older adults in Goiânia city, capital of the Goiás state, Brazil.…”

“…Individuals with pacemakers or any type of metal adjacent to their body, which was a contra-indication for BIA and DXA examination, and those who were unable to respond to the questionnaire, for reasons such as severe deafness or muteness, were also excluded. A detailed description of the study can be found elsewhere [ 2 , 18 , 25 – 27 ].…”

“…The prevalence of obesity has considerably increased worldwide over the last few decades and is a growing concern among older adults [1]. Obesity has been linked to hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke [2][3][4]. The most widely method used to assess the prevalence of obesity status in population studies is the body mass index (BMI) [1].…”

“…Body mass index;2 Body fat percentage estimated with the SF equation of Durnin & Womersley;3 Body fat percentage estimated with bioelectrical impedance (BIA);4 Body fat percentage estimated using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); *Significant differences between sexes…”

Health Conditions Associated with Overweight in Climacteric Women

“…The increase in the prevalence of overweight, represented by overweight and obesity, among the elderly female population raises great concern in developed and developing countries. Since overweight and obesity are risk factors for adverse health events 2 such as disturbances in lipid and glycidic metabolism, psychological stress and sleep alterations, with increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases 3 , musculoskeletal disease, acute myocardial infarction 4 , cancer 5 and worse quality of life in comparison to those who were satisfied with their body weight 6 .…”