Diagnosis and monitoring of the nutritional condition of the elderly in a municipality in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, state of Parana (PR), Brazil

Objective The increasing elderly population in developed and developing countries arouses interest and concern regarding the planning of public policies which deal with the nutritional care of the elderly. The objective of this research was to describe the nutritional profile of senior volunteers from parochial groups in order to suggest the monitoring of the nutritional situation of the elderly in the municipality of Pinhais, in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, state of Parana. Methods The population encompassed in the survey consisted of 209 elderly volunteers from the parochial groups of adults and seniors of that city. The diagnosis of the nutritional status of the elderly was done by taking anthropometrical measurements and calculating the Body Mass Index, using the cut-off points recommended by the Ministry of Health as diagnostic criteria. Sociodemographic data, such as age, gender formal education level, morbidities and type of healthcare service used were also collected from August to November 2003. The Epi Info program, version 6.04, was used to perform the statistical analyses. Results The results showed that important prevalences of inadequate nutritional status were found among the elderly of the city of Pinhais, where 57.4% of them were overweight and 9.6% were underweight. Conclusion The results indicated the need to develop an instrument to monitor the nutritional status of the elderly in this city and the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System is proposed for this age group.