BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Increased serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels have been reported to be related to the occurrence of cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases. High serum Hcy levels are also related to the development of secondary stroke and all-cause mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of high serum homocysteine level and relating factors, and the change over the...

Background: The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) has recommended the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA®), the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS), and the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) for nutritional screening in various settings and age groups. While in recent years all three tools have been applied to nursing home residents, there is still no con...

OBJECTIVES To calculate the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in subjects aged 85 years old and to study the relationship between some common geriatric evaluation scales and vitamin D status. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING A community-based study. PARTICIPANTS 312 subjects aged 85 years old. MEASUREMENTS Geriatric assessment was based on comorbidity, functional status according ...

Knowledge about the need for care of elderly individuals in community dwellings and the factors affecting their needs and support is limited. The aim of this study was to characterize the frailty of a population of elderly individuals living in community dwellings in Sweden in relation to co-morbidity, use of drugs, and risk of severe conditions such as malnutrition, pressure ulcers, and falls....

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate sexand age-related variations of the nutritional status in the aged population of central Sardinia, a geographical area with a high frequency of long-lived people, particularly men. Design: The sample consisted of 200 subjects over 70 years of age (men: N= 100, age= 81.0±7.0 years; women: N= 100, age= 81.5±7.3 years). Setting: Orroli (central Sa...

INTRODUCTION In general, geriatric assessment (GA) provides the combined information on comorbidity and functional, nutritional and psychosocial status and may be predictive for mortality outcome of cancer patients. The impact of geriatric assessment on the outcome of older patients with colorectal cancer treated with chemotherapy is largely unknown. METHODS In a prospective study, 143 patien...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients living alone and to describe the rate of cognitive and functional impairment after a one-year follow-up. DESIGN AND SETTING In a prospective longitudinal study conducted by the French network on Alzheimer's disease (the REAL.FR study), 677 older community-dwelling AD patients were inte...

BACKGROUND Malnutrition in elderly patients in institutions has become an issue of clinical concern, but it remains largely unrecognized in acute care hospitals. The demonstrated benefits of intervention emphasize the need for routine nutritional assessment. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of malnutrition in elderly patients admitted to a tertiary care centre and t...

BACKGROUND Malnutrition and depression are the common health problems in elderly population. Poor nutrition might have a strong effect on the incidence of depression. The aims of this study were to assess the nutritional and depression status and the possibly relationship between these variables in the urban free-liv-ing elderly in Tabriz, northwestern Iran. METHODS This cross-sectional study...

BACKGROUND Malnutrition is common and affects negatively the health of the older adult. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), a nutritional assessment tool allows to identify elders malnourished and at risk of malnutrition. The aim of this study is to validate the Portuguese version of the MNA. METHODS Cross-sectional study with 344 Brazilian elderly. The full version of the MNA was performe...