Nutritional status of elderly assisted in primary care and their relationship with social determinants of health

ABSTRACT Objective To review the influence of social determinants of health in the nutritional status of the elderly assisted in a primary care Unit in a Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, community. Methods This was a cross-sectional study with an analytical approach. The universe was composed of 129 elderly attending a family health unit in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. The data were collected according to a protocol. The effect of the association of independent variables with the body mass index was estimated using hierarchical logistic regression models, simple and multiple multinomial. The significance level was set at 5%. Results There was a higher percentage of elderly people with excess weight (52.34%) in the assessment of body mass index. On analysis of the Mini nutritional assessment, the risk of malnutrition was 38.76%. On analysis of the calf circumference 13.39% of the elderly were malnourished. In the final model, the criteria for maintaining the elderly patients were the following: excess weight, marital status, hypertension, osteoarthritis and sewer destination. Elderly widowers had a higher chance (OR=5.17) of having excess weight and not to have sewage network serving their home and be hypertense (OR=2.71 e 2.83). The fact that the elderly have osteoarthritis also indicated a greater chance (OR=3.76) that they present excess weight. Conclusion Among the social determinants of health, the nutritional status of the elderly was associated with marital status, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and basic sanitation. The social setting of the elderly is associated with their nutritional status.