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. 2020;24(3):319-324.
doi: 10.1007/s12603-019-1320-9.

Associations between Nutritional Status, Frailty and Health-Related Quality of Life among Older Long-Term Care Residents in Helsinki

K S Salminen  1 , M H Suominen, H Kautiainen, K H Pitkälä
Affiliations

Associations between Nutritional Status, Frailty and Health-Related Quality of Life among Older Long-Term Care Residents in Helsinki

K S Salminen et al. J Nutr Health Aging. 2020.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine how nutritional status modifies the association between frailty and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among older nursing home residents. We also investigated how residents' energy intake is linked to frailty score.

Design and participants: A total of 486 older (> 65 years of age) nursing home residents living in Helsinki, Finland were included to this cross-sectional study.

Methods: We collected data on the residents' background information, HRQoL by 15D, nutritional status by Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), frailty status (Fried's phenotype criteria; pre-frail: 1-2 criteria and frail: 3-5) and energy intake (one- or two-day food records).

Results: The frail residents were more often malnourished and had lower HRQoL than those in the prefrail group. Energy and protein intakes were significantly lower among frail women than prefrail women. Energy intake was linearly associated with frailty points. When residents in the frail and prefrail groups were divided according to their nutritional status, both nutritional status and frailty were associated with HRQoL, but there was no interaction.

Conclusions: Both nutritional status and frailty were associated with HRQoL, and lower energy intake indicated a higher frailty score. An adequate energy intake may promote residents' HRQoL and prevent frailty in long-term care.

Keywords: MNA; frailty; health-related quality of life; long-term care; nutrition.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Gender-specific standardized (z-score) energy intake/day. Energy intakes were standardized by z-scores to include both men and women in the same analyses
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relationship between frailty points (Fried et al.2001)(23) and gender-specific standardized energy intake per day (p=0.001). Adjusted for age
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) (Vellas et al. 1999)(24) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (Sintonen 2001)(26) in prefrail and frail groups. Both the frailty group (p < 0.001) and the MNA score (p < 0.001) were linearly associated with HRQoL, but the interaction was not significant (p = 0.18). Adjusted for age and gender
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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