Weight Loss Factors
Factors associated with low body mass index
and weight loss in nursing home residents.
Weight Loss Study Background
Under-nutrition in nursing home residents is a significant and possibly
modifiable public health problem. We evaluated the hypothesis that some
potentially modifiable factors are associated with resident under-nutrition.
Weight Loss Study Methods
This study is a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of 6,832 community
nursing home residents sampled from 202 nursing homes in 7 states. Data
were from the Minimum Data Set (MDS), and HCFA-mandated resident assessment
instrument used in U.S. community nursing homes. Two dependent variables
represented undernutrition: (a) low body mass index (BMI), defined as
the lowest quartile BMI of the sample (19.42 kg/m2 and below); and (b)
weight loss, an MDS measure defined as 5 percent decrease in weight in
30 days, or a 10 percent decrease in 180 days (9.9 percent of the sample).
Independent variables included resident demographics, eating-related variables,
variables measuring functional, cognitive, and affective statuses, and
medical conditions. Separate logistic regression models were estimated
for low BMI and weight loss to test multivariate associations.
Weight Loss Study Results
Low BMI and weight loss are increased by poor oral intake, eating dependency,
decubiti, and chewing problems. Female gender, age 85 or older, bedfast,
and hip fracture increase the odds of low BMI only; depressed behaviors
and two or more chronic diseases increase the odds of weight loss only.
Weight Loss Study Conclusion
Undernutrition in nursing home residents is a multifactorial syndrome.
Improved oral feeding methods and treatment of depression are potentially
important ways to counteract undernutrition, to improve weight loss and
BMI where necessary, in nursing home residents.
Source: 1995 by The Gerontological Society
of America.
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