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Background:

Average life expectancy increases year after year throughout the world. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) test is one of the most extensively applied tools for identifying the nutritional risks in elderly people. Here, we assess the nutritional status of elderlies accommodated in nursing homes by the MNA-SF test.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study of 773 elderly individuals living in nursing homes was conducted to evaluate their nutritional status, using the mini nutritional assessment questionnaire (MNA-SF), in Turkey.

Results:

In this cross-sectional study, 773 elderly individuals were included. Of these, 404 (52.27%) were men and 369 (47.73%) women. Of all subjects, 8.4% were malnourished, 37% at risk of malnutrition, and 54.6% well nourished. In terms of frequency of subjects at risk of malnutrition (43.6% in women and 30.9% in men) and well-nourished (47.2% in women and 61.4% in men), there was a statistically significant difference between women and men (p<0.001). The results showed that 80% and 58.5% of individuals with malnutrition had a sharp or moderate reduction in food intakes, respectively, and their weight loss was greater than three kg in the last three months. This difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Regression results indicated that the lower MNA-score was independently associated with higher age (r=-0.2). Moreover, the MNA-score had a significant positive correlation with weight (r=0.42), BMI (r=0.34), MACs (r=0.33) and CCs (r=0.32) (P<0.001).

Conclusion:

This study reveals that nursing home residents are at increased risk of malnutrition, and this problem is associated with weight loss, increased drug use, health status, and decline in physical activity and food intake.

Paracetamol vs dexketoprofen for perineal pain relief after episiotomy or perineal tear

A randomised controlled trial was conducted to investigate efficacy of paracetamol and dexketoprofen trometamol for perineal pain relief after perineal repair. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive two doses of either 50 mg of intravenous dexketoprofen trometamol via slow i.v. infusion (Group I, n = 49) or 1,000 mg of paracetamol via intravenous infusion (Group II, n = 46). The main outcome measure was a VAS (visual analogue scale) for pain recorded at 1 h (VAS 1). A total of 82 patients were included in the final analysis (Group I, n = 41; Group II, n = 41). There was no difference among groups in terms of pain scores at the beginning (VAS 0). The pain was decreased in 70% of the patients in Group I and in 62% of the patients in Group II (p = 0.502). Both paracetamol and dexketoprofen are effective in perineal pain relief after episiotomy or perineal tear repair.