QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN AN ELDERLY URBAN FEMALE-POPULATION AT RISK FOR NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY

The promotion of adequate nutritional intake is an important health strategy with elderly populations. This study assessed the quality of life of 84 nutritionally at-risk elderly female community residents using measures of physical, social and psychological functioning. These were then compared with normative data for females from the same urban population. The results indicated that the study sample had significantly poorer functioning in terms of physical disability (p<.01), symptoms of ageing (p<.001), self esteem (p<.001), depression (p<.01) and cognition (p<.001). The healthy sample had a significantly more positive perception of both their current health (p<.001) and their health compared to others of the same age (p<.01), and overall rated themselves as happier (p<.001) than did the nutritionally at-risk group. These findings confirm an association between poor nutritional status and a lower quality of life in the elderly. The impact of a nutrition intervention programme on the well-being of the at-risk sample is currently being assessed.