Non-institutionalized nonagenarians health-related quality of life and nutritional status: is there a link between them?

Introduction: Nonagenarian population, clearly increasing, shows different characteristics from the rest of elderly people. Health-related quality of life is a way to study population health in physical, psychological and social dimensions. Objectives: To examine the relationship between nutritional status and health-related quality of life in a group of free-living nonagenarians. Differences with octogenarians were also studied. Methods: Within Villanueva Older Health Study, 20 non-institutionalised people (92.5±3.5 years; 80% women) make the nonagenarian subsample. Nutritional risk was assessed by Mininutritional Assessment questionnaire, dietary intake by a 24-hour dietary recall and health-related quality of life by EuroQoL-5D questionnaire. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Results: 40% nonagenarians were at risk of malnutrition. Dietary assessment showed magnesium, zinc, potassium, folic acid, vitamin D and vitamin E deficiencies. Problems in mobility were more frequently reported (80%). EQ-5Dindex was associated with MNA (p<0.05). Self-care dimension was associated with calcium and niacin (p<0.05), retinol and cholesterol (p<0.01) intake. Usual activities dimension was associated with niacin (p<0.01) and cholesterol(p<0.05) intake. Pain/discomfort dimension was associated with protein (p<0.01), energy, selenium and niacin (p<0.05) intake. Anxiety/depression was associated with protein(p<0.01) and selenium (p<0.05) intake. Conclusions: Risk of malnutrition is a factor associated to health-related quality of life. Results suggest that energy and some nutrient intakes could be possibly associated to health-related quality of life but further research on this influence is required.

Factors associated with obesity in Brazilian children enrolled in the School Health Program: a case-control study

Case-control studies evaluating the factors associated with childhood obesity are scarce in Brazil. We aimed to analyze the factors associated with obesity in Brazilian schoolchildren enrolled in the School Health Program.A case-control study was conducted on 80 schoolchildren aged 7 to 9 years, 40 of them obese and 40 of normal weight according to the cut-off points established by the World Health Organization (2007). Weight, height and waist circumference were obtained. Socioeconomic, demographic, health, eating behavior and lifestyle data were collected by applying a questionnaire to the person responsible and by determining his/her nutritional status. A binary unconditional logistic regression model (univariate and multivariate) was used for data analysis. The prevalence of obesity was 7.21%. The final model showed that duration of breast-feeding ≥6 months of age (OR 5.3; 95% CI: 1.3-22.1), excess weight of the person responsible (OR 7.1; 95% CI: 1.2-40.2), a sedentary level of physical activity (OR 4.1; 95% CI: 1.115.5), and fast chewing (OR 7.4; 95% CI: 2.1-26.9) were significantly associated with childhood obesity. The factors associated with obesity in schoolchildren were duration of breast-feeding ≥6 months, persons responsible with excess weight, and sedentary children who chew fast. The present study contributes information to be used for the health actions planned by the School Health Program.