School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Republic of Ireland; UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Republic of Ireland.
National Primary Care Division, Community Funded Schemes Service Improvement, Mountmellick Primary Care Building, Co. Laois, Republic of Ireland.
Clin Nutr. 2021 May;40(5):2936-2945. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.12.024. Epub 2020 Dec 23.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Understanding how older adults perceive their nutritional needs and malnutrition risk is important to inform strategies to improve prevention and management of the condition. This scoping review aimed to identify, characterize and summarize the findings from studies analysing community-dwelling older adults' opinions and perceptions towards their nutritional needs and malnutrition risk.
An electronic literature search was carried out using three databases, Pubmed, Embase, and CINAHL up to January 2020. Articles were reviewed following PRISMA guidelines.
A total of 16,190 records were identified and reviewed with 15 studies being included, all of which were conducted in high income countries. Common conceptual categories that were identified included; older community-dwelling adults consider that a healthy diet for them is the same as that recommended for the general population, consisting of fruits, vegetables, reduced fat and reduced sugar. Weight loss was seen as a positive outcome and a normal component of the ageing process. Lack of appetite was identified by participants in the majority of studies as a barrier to food intake.
This review shows how older community-dwelling adults, with a high risk of malnutrition, follow dietary public health recommendations for the general population and have a greater awareness of the risks of overweight. The implementation of nutritional guidelines that consider the nutritional needs of all older adults and education of non-dietetic community healthcare professionals on providing appropriate nutritional advice to this population are warranted.
了解老年人如何看待自身营养需求和营养不良风险，对于制定改善该状况的预防和管理策略至关重要。本范围性综述旨在确定、描述和总结分析社区居住的老年人对其营养需求和营养不良风险的意见和看法的研究结果。
通过电子检索 Pubmed、Embase 和 CINAHL 数据库，检索时间截至 2020 年 1 月。按照 PRISMA 指南对文章进行了审查。
共确定并审查了 16,190 条记录，其中包括 15 项研究，均在高收入国家进行。确定的常见概念类别包括：社区居住的老年人认为他们的健康饮食与一般人群推荐的饮食相同，包括水果、蔬菜、低脂肪和低糖。体重减轻被视为积极的结果和衰老过程的正常组成部分。在大多数研究中，参与者都认为缺乏食欲是摄入食物的障碍。
本综述表明，有较高营养不良风险的社区居住的老年人遵循针对一般人群的饮食公共卫生建议，并且对超重的风险有更高的认识。需要实施考虑所有老年人营养需求的营养指南，并对非饮食专业的社区医疗保健专业人员进行教育，以便为这一人群提供适当的营养建议。
