Assessment of nutritional status in senior citizens in a rural area of western Maharashtra: A cross-sectional estimate

The nutritionally venerable geriatric population of India is on the rise. The community estimate of this venerability is far and few. Aim and Objectives: To estimate the nutritional status of geriatric population in rural India and ascertain the different contributors. Materials and Methods: MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) developed by Nestle Nutrition Institute and other relevant nutritional anthropometry surrogates were used. ‘Chi-Square’ test and ‘Z-test’ of variation between two means were applied to compare various anthropometric measurements with various grades of nutrition. P-value of significance was set at Results: For 160 participants the mean age was 72.11(±6.59) years, out of which 113(43.46%) were well-nourished, 111(42.46%) at risk of malnutrition and 36(13.84%) were undernourished. A highly significant association between age and grade of nutrition was observed (??2;= 34.41, d.f. =8, p Conclusion: With increasing geriatric population India should take note of their major issues which includes nutrition so that they can have a healthy and self-supportive living. Keywords: Indian Geriatrics, MNA, Nutritional status, Socio-demography.