The Magnitude of Malnutrition among Hospitalized Elderly Patients in University Malaya Medical Centre

Malnutrition is a common, potentially serious and frequently undiagnosed condition among hospitalized elderly patients. It is important to determine the magnitude of malnutrition among hospitalized geriatric patients using anthropometric and biochemical indicators. This is a cross-sectional study involving the nutritional assessment of 181 subjects (98 women) aged 65 or older. These subjects were admitted to the Geriatric Ward, University Malaya Medical Centre within 72 hours of admission between April and August 2003. Subjects were assessed for anthropometric (body weight, height, mid upper arm circumference, and calf circumference), and biochemical (serum albumin, hemoglobin, total lymphocyte count and serum cholesterol) malnutrition. Although the majority of subjects had a normal Body Mass Index (BMI), 18.0% were underweight and 37.3% were overweight. 16.0% and 26.0% subjects had muscle wasting as assessed by low mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) and calf circumference (CC) respectively. Biochemical tests indicated that 41.4% subjects had hypoalbuminemia, 39.4% had anemia, and 23.4% had low total lymphocyte count. There were no subjects with low serum cholesterol values on admission. Since malnutrition is prevalent among hospitalized geriatric patients, there is a need to screen elderly patients during admission to ascertain who are at risk of malnutrition in order to improve their health, nutritional status and decrease the length of hospital stay.