Nutritional Status and Its Relation with Depression in Free-Living Elderly Individuals

Background and Objectives: Aging, as a main period of life, is faced with many physiological and psychological problems such as malnutrition and depression. Some evidences manifested that malnutrition and depression could affect each other. Considering the lack of studies in this field in our region, this study designed to determine the nutritional status and its relation with depression in the free-living elderly individuals. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried on 184 elderly people (male=97; female=87) with the age ≥ 60 years. All subjects were selected from daily care centers for elderly people in Tabriz city. Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and Geriatric Depression Score (GDS) were used to evaluate the nutritional status and depression prevalence, respectively. Results: More than 50% of subjects had inappropriate nutrition status (6.2% undernourished and 46.7% at risk of malnutrition). Prevalence of malnutrition in females was 5-fold more than males. The results of GDS test revealed that about 14% of elderly people had serve depression and 28.3% had mild depression. There was a significant positive correlation between MNA and GDS tests in both gender (r=0.42; p<0.001) and this correlation were stronger in females. Conclusion: Nutritional and mental statuses of free-living elderly individuals were not in acceptable level. Therefore, it seems to be necessary that health professionals should consider these problems for promotion the quality of life for elderly as a priority.