Meena Jeevan Jyoti, Singh Anshumali, Gupta Nidhi, Meena Gajendra S
Community Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, IND.
Community Medicine, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, IND.
Cureus. 2025 May 5;17(5):e83529. doi: 10.7759/cureus.83529. eCollection 2025 May.
The health of the elderly is an important issue defining the health status of the population. Malnutrition significantly increases morbidity and mortality and compromises the outcomes of other underlying conditions and diseases. The malnourished elderly are more likely to require health and social services, have more hospitalizations, and cause a burden on caregivers.
To study the effect of health education on the nutritional status of elderly aged 60 years and above in a rural area of Delhi.
A community-based interventional study was conducted in the Barwala village, which is a rural area in Delhi. A total of 205 elderly were assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) Tool. Health education was provided as an intervention using poster presentation, audio-visual aids, and pamphlets distribution.
Quantitative data was expressed by mean and SD, and tested by Student's t-test (paired) or Mann-Whitney U test, while qualitative data was expressed in percentage and tested by chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test. Results: 83 (40%) subjects were malnourished, and a similar number, i.e., 84 (41%), was at risk of malnutrition according to the MNA score. The prevalence of malnutrition before and after the intervention was 83 (40.5%) and 63 (30.7%), respectively, which showed a 24.1% decrease in the prevalence of malnutrition after the intervention.
There was a high prevalence of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition among the elderly.
老年人的健康是界定人口健康状况的一个重要问题。营养不良会显著增加发病率和死亡率，并影响其他基础病症和疾病的治疗效果。营养不良的老年人更有可能需要健康和社会服务，住院次数更多，给护理人员带来负担。
研究健康教育对德里农村地区60岁及以上老年人营养状况的影响。
在德里农村地区的巴尔瓦拉村开展了一项基于社区的干预性研究。使用微型营养评定（MNA）工具对总共205名老年人进行了评估。通过张贴海报、使用视听教具和发放宣传册的方式提供健康教育作为干预措施。
定量数据以均值和标准差表示，采用配对t检验或曼-惠特尼U检验进行检验，而定性数据以百分比表示，采用卡方检验或费舍尔精确检验进行检验。结果：根据MNA评分，83名（40%）受试者营养不良，数量相近的84名（41%）受试者存在营养不良风险。干预前后营养不良的患病率分别为83名（40.5%）和63名（30.7%），干预后营养不良患病率下降了24.1%。
老年人中营养不良和营养不良风险的患病率较高。
