Coelho-Júnior Hélio José, Calvani Riccardo, Russo Andrea, Landi Francesco, Marzetti Emanuele
Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Department of Geriatrics, Orthopedics and Rheumatology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Front Nutr. 2025 Jun 4;12:1585310. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1585310. eCollection 2025.
Malnutrition has been shown to contribute to adverse outcomes such as falls, fractures, and disability in older adults. However, findings remain conflicting, partly due to differences in operationalization methods. The recent adoption of the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria has shown promise, but evidence-especially in community-dwelling populations-is still limited and inconclusive. Therefore, the present study examined the associations between malnutrition and health-related parameters, including falls, fall-related fractures, disability, and mortality, in community-dwelling older adults.
This prospective cohort study involved octogenarians who lived in the mountain community of the Sirente geographic area in Central Italy. Malnutrition was defined according to the GLIM criteria. History of falls, incident falls, fall-related fractures, and disability status according to basic activities of daily living were recorded over 2 years. Survival status was obtained from participants' general practitioners and verified through the National Death Registry, up to 10 years from enrollment. Binary, ordinal, and Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the associations between malnutrition and health outcomes.
Data from 334 older adults (mean age: 86.3 ± 4.7 years) were analyzed. Malnutrition was significantly and inversely associated with a history of falls, with non-malnourished individuals being less likely to have experienced a higher number of falls. However, no significant associations were found between malnutrition and the incidence of falls, fall-related fractures, disability (prevalence and incidence), or mortality.
The findings of the present study indicate that malnutrition, as defined by the GLIM criteria, is significantly associated with a history of falls in older adults. Further studies examining important covariates are required to confirm our findings and expand the current knowledge in the field.
营养不良已被证明会导致老年人出现跌倒、骨折和残疾等不良后果。然而，研究结果仍存在矛盾，部分原因是操作方法的差异。最近采用的营养不良全球领导倡议（GLIM）标准显示出了前景，但证据——尤其是在社区居住人群中——仍然有限且尚无定论。因此，本研究调查了社区居住的老年人中营养不良与健康相关参数之间的关联，这些参数包括跌倒、与跌倒相关的骨折、残疾和死亡率。
这项前瞻性队列研究涉及居住在意大利中部锡伦特地理区域山区社区的八旬老人。根据GLIM标准定义营养不良。记录了两年内的跌倒史、跌倒事件、与跌倒相关的骨折以及根据日常生活基本活动的残疾状况。从参与者的全科医生处获取生存状态，并通过国家死亡登记处进行核实，从入组起最长可达10年。进行二元、有序和Cox回归分析以评估营养不良与健康结果之间的关联。
分析了334名老年人（平均年龄：86.3±4.7岁）的数据。营养不良与跌倒史显著负相关，非营养不良个体经历更多跌倒的可能性较小。然而，在营养不良与跌倒发生率、与跌倒相关的骨折、残疾（患病率和发病率）或死亡率之间未发现显著关联。
本研究结果表明，根据GLIM标准定义的营养不良与老年人的跌倒史显著相关。需要进一步研究重要的协变量来证实我们的发现并扩展该领域的现有知识。
