ASSESSMENT OF THE NUTRITIONAL-STATUS OF RURAL AND URBAN ELDERLY LIVING AT HOME

Assessment of nutritional status was conducted on a selected sample of 46 rural and 24 urban elderly people living at home in Galway. Nutrient intake was assessed by the 24 hour dietary recall method. Blood tests and anthropometric measurements were also carried out. Both subject groups, but particularly the rural elderly were discovered to have deficient intake of many nutrients when compared to 80% of the Irish Recommended Dietary Allowances. Blood tests of nine haematological and biochemical parameters with values below the lower limit of the adult laboratory references range were rarely found. Anthropometric values below recognized standards were common. Sub-optimal nutritional status was present to a greater degree in subjects living in the geographically isolated rural area but inadequate nutrition was also detected in the city-dwelling elderly. Education of these elderly people on better dietary intake should be conducted and increased social contact encouraged. Provision of improved transport and communication facilities for the rural elderly studied may aid improvement in their nutritional status. While results of this study suggest that undernutrition is a problems in this group, a more representative sample of elderly people needs to be studied to ascertain the true prevalence of undernutrition in the elderly.