Nutritional status and dietary habits of elderly population and their association with socio-demographic factors in a village of Punjab.

Objectives: To assess the nutritional status and dietary habits of elderly population and their associations with socio-demographic factors in a rural area. Design: This is an analytical cross sectional study. Setting: This study was conducted in a village named Jia Bagga, district Lahore, Pakistan. Participants: Data was collected from a sample of 100 elderly subjects (age 60 or above). Results: The mean age of the subjects was 69.08 and mean BMI was 25.09. Out of 100 individuals that participated 22% were malnourished and 50% were at risk of malnourishment. Malnourishment was found to be significantly associated with age, financial dependency, physical activity, overall eating habits. 18% of the subjects had fair, 81% had good and only 1% had excellent eating habits. Conclusion: The findings revealed that the nutritional status of elderly is not satisfactory, majority of elderly were either at risk or were malnourished. Therefore, interventions to improve nutritional status in low income older age individuals who mostly depend on others for their nutritional needs in rural segments are needed.