Assessing the Socio-Demographic Factors for Nutritional Status of the Elderly Persons in Dokolo District of Northern Uganda

Abstract

Undernutrition and overnutrition have been identified as common nutritional problems among older persons, but less is known about its association with socio-demographic factors, health risk factors, and the other intermediate factors such as nutritional intake, physical activity and the environmental hygiene. The major objective of this study was to determine the nutritional status and its associated factors on the older persons aged 60 years and above in Dokolo District, Uganda. Specifically, the study sought to determine the nutritional status of older persons aged 60 years and above. A cross-sectional household survey design was used based on the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) method with 10 supervision areas, which yielded a sample size of 190 respondents. It was established using an MNA-SF that the majority 66% (124) of the interviewed older persons aged 60 years and above were at risk of being malnourished, 23% (44) were deemed malnourished, and only 11% (22) as those were with normal nutritional status. It further revealed that several factors were significantly associated with nutritional status among older persons. These included demographic factors such as Age (p-value for Crammers’ V < 0.001). However, other demographic factors such as sex of respondents (p-value > 0.130), level of education (p-value > 0.362), nature of occupation/employment (p-value > 0.061), and religious status (p-value > 0.280) were not seen to influence the nutritional status of the older persons. Socio-economic factors such as respondents’ wealth quintiles were equally deemed to be significantly associated with nutritional status of the older adults (P < 0.000, R = -0.288), specifically, only 4.6% of the malnourished were wealthy as compared to the 28.6% of the malnourished who were classified as poorest. Chronic health conditions had a significant influence on nutritional status (p < 0.000). Likewise, the neuropsychological problem had a significant influence on nutritional status (p < 0.000). Food security factors such as access to food (p < 0.001), food adequacy/sufficiency (p <0.001), number of meals had per day (p < 0.000), the main source of food for the household (p <0.000) all had significant influence on the nutritional status of the respondents. Furthermore, it was revealed that the quality of the collected drinking such as boiling before drinking, treating, and proper storage among others had a significant influence on the nutritional status of the respondents (p < 0.037). The study recommended several community initiatives that seek to improve the food security of households such as improved access to food, food adequacy/sufficiency, increasing the number of meals had per day should be designed to prioritize the older persons. The government should embark on the improvement of health care systems to ensure they are user-friendly to the older persons and improves early detection and screening of related nutritional conditions. Elderly persons including their households should be sensitized on the proper feeding practices and safe storage of household water.