Association between Malnutrition and Depression in Elderly People in Razavi Khorasan: A Population Based-Study in Iran

Background: to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and depression in free-living elderly people and theirrelationships (if any) in razavi khorasan, iran 2007.methods: to evaluate nutritional status, we used mini nutritional assessment (mna) method in free-living elderlypeople (n=1565 using cluster sampling, 720 males and 845 females, aged. 60 yr) and their relationship to socioeconomic conditions (secs). based on the final scores, our patients were classified into three groups: score 17-23.5(at risk for malnutrition), score less than 17 (with malnutrition), and score 24-30 (well nourished). to determine themood status (here depression), we used geriatric depression score (gds). according to this score our participantsturned out to be in two distinct groups: depressed (score .8) and non-depressed (score < 8).results: from the total subjects entered the study (1495), 22.07% were depressed and 11.5% and 44% were malnourishedor at risk of malnutrition respectively. in depressed group, the prevalence of malnutrition was 14.5% (48 out of330) and the prevalence of gat risk of malnutritionh was 45.8%, whereas the prevalence of malnutrition and at risk ofmalnutrition in non-depressed population were 10.6% and 43.3% respectively. from the aforementioned informationwe have concluded that there is a significant statistical difference between the prevalence of malnutrition in depressedand non-depressed individuals (p= 0.047).conclusions: with respect to the high rate of vegetative symptoms in elderly depressed individuals, malnutritionwould have a higher prevalence in the depressed people.