Nutritional status in a sample of adults aged 60 and over in the municipality of Lisbon

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the nutritional status of the elderly by assessing anthropometric indicators and to understand the role of socioeconomic factors and lifestyles in overweight, including obesity (ExP+Ob), and abdominal obesity. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Lisbon (Portugal) with 434 people aged 60 or over who attended social institutions. Most participants were women (78%) and the average age was 79.91±7.61 years. The prevalence of ExP+Ob was 81.9% according to the WHO criteria and 69.5% according to Lipschitz, with higher rates in women (WHO: 85.0% vs. Lipschitz: 73.7%, p=0.01) than in men (WHO: 70.8% vs. Lipschitz: 55.2%, p=0.00). The odds of ExP+Ob/WHO was higher in women who spent more than 2h/day watching television, that spent more time sitting and were taking three or more medications. The prevalence of substantially increased risk for waist circumference (WHO) or waist circumference/height ratio was higher in women than in men (p<0.05). Higher prevalence of ExP+Ob or substantially increased risk of abdominal obesity occurred when arterial hypertension, diabetes or hypercholesterolemia was reported. In our sample, there was a high prevalence of total ExP+Ob and an increased risk of abdominal obesity, which may reveal malnutrition and the influence of physical inactivity or cause/ consequence of metabolic disease.