Nutritional evaluation and prevalence of not transmissible chronic disease in elderly participating in an assistance program

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the nutritional state and the prevalence of not transmissible chronic disease in elderly, who were participating in an assistance program of the Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG), Alfenas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Socio-economical, anthropometric and biochemical variables, as well as systemic blood pressure were collected from 82 individuals between 60 and 87 years of age, 90,2 % of them female. According to the body mass index (BMI) 52,4% of the studied sample were overweight, 28,0% eutrophic and 19,5% underweight; 37,8% presented high body fat percentage (BF%). With regard to the relation BMI/BF%, 63,4% of the elderly with overweight, 12,5% of the eutrophic and 11,8% of the underweight presented high BF%. The waist-to-hip ratio revealed 40,2% at high risk and 12,2% at very high risk of developing cardiovascular disease. In addition, 22,0% had high blood pressure. The biochemical tests revealed that 39,3%, 39,3% and 3,3% presented higher plasma cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose levels respectively. There is a need for continuous nutritional education programs and monitoring of the nutritional and health status for improving the quality of life of the studied individuals.