Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Vellas, Bruno J.
• Hunt, William C.
• Romero, Linda J.
• Koehler, Kathleen M.
• Baumgartner, Richard N.
• Garry, Philip J.

Titel

Changes in nutritional status and patterns of morbidity among free-living elderly persons: A 10-year longitudinal study

Ist Teil von

• Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.), 1997-06, Vol.13 (6), p.515-519

Ort / Verlag

New York, NY: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Nutritional intake appears to be an important factor contributing to aging. In the present study we describe changes in physical health related to nutritional intake among elderly persons in a 10-y longitudinal study. Among 304 healthy elderly participants (median age 72 y on entry into the study in 1980), 97 (34.2%) are still in good health 10 y later in 1990, 74 (26.5%) have become frail or sick, 54 (19.1%) have died, and 57 (20.1%) have dropped out of the study. Women with lower or higher energy intakes (in 1980 and 1981) than the current Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA; between 25 and 30 kcal/kg) were more likely to become frail or sick or to die in 1990 than those with energy intake in the midrange (below RDA, odds ratio (OR) = 3.3, confidence interval (CI) = 1.2–8.6; above RDA, OR = 3.4, CI: 1.1–10.7). Moreover, women with protein intakes greater than the midrange of 0.8–1.2 g/kg of body weight (1.20–1.76 g/kg in 1980 and 1981) tended to have fewer health problems over the next 10 y than those with protein intakes <0.8 g/kg, suggesting that the mean protein requirement in elderly adults is greater than that established by the 1985 joint World Health Organization/FAO/UNU Expert Committee. Moreover, a decrease in energy intake was greater in elderly persons who died or dropped out of the study because of illness.