Prevalence of Malnutrition and Morbidity Pattern among Neglected Geriatric Population in Rural Area of Ondo State, Southwest, Nigeria

Methods:The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study in design, which involved 346 elderly (aged 60-90) who were systematically sampled from six rural communities in the Owo Local Government Area, Ondo State.A structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to source information from the respondents on demographical characteristics, Socio-economic status using household durable goods, morbidity and dietary pattern of the respondent.Body mass index was calculated and classified in line with World Health Organization standards.The statistics package for social science, version 25, was used to analyzed the generated data.Descriptive statistics, and chi-square, were employed.The level of significance was determined using a probability of (p<0.05).Results: A total of 346 respondents participated in the study with an average age of 72 ±2.4years.About 37.6% of the elderly were within the age range of 60-64 years.Significant difference (p<0.05)existed between sexes and socio-demographic variables.The dietary diversity score shows that 66.5% and 7% had a medium and poor dietary diversity score, respectively.Significant differences were observed (P< 0.05) between the male and female elderly in the dietary diversity score (P = 0.002), in the consumption of cereals (p = 0.008), roots and tubers (p = 0.002), and fruits (p = 0.006).Egg (17.6%) and milk (36.2%) were the least consumed protein among the elderly while Overweight (30%), obesity (15.9%), and malnutrition (20.2%) were more prevalence among the female elderly.Morbidity pattern shows that 3.1% were diabetic, body pain (73.5%) and joint pain (60.1%) while 20.5% were hypertensive.Malaria, dementia and eye problem were found among 54.1%, 12.0% and 18.8% respectively.Only (32.2%) of the respondents had depression while (25.9%) complained of loss of appetite.Conclusions: Malnutrition and poor morbidity pattern were still major problems among the elderly in rural communities.As such, this poses a public health challenge that demands specific nutrition and medical interventions targeting the elderly and the community.