Relationship between malnutrition and depression among Iranian elderly population

Considering the increasing pace of population ageing, health maintenance of the elderly is one of the top priorities of governments. Depression and malnutrition are very common problems with various consequences for the elderly population. The purpose of the present national study was to determine the relationship between malnutrition and depression in an Iranian elderly population in 2017.

In this cross-sectional study was perfomed in 2017, data were extracted from the Iran National Health Survey of the Elderly, evaluating 1133 elderly people. Relatively, this national survey focused on the health status of individuals aged 60 years or above, who were selected from 106 health centers in 66 cities of Iran via cluster sampling. For data collection, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and Geriatric Depression Score (GDS-15) were used.

Nearly 47% of the participants were male. The mean±SD of the participants’ age was 69.11±7.22 years. The prevalence of depression was 35.7% (28.5% in men vs. 42.3% in women), while the prevalence of malnutrition was 6.1% (5.4% in men vs. 6.7% in women). The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that the risk of depression was three times higher in people at risk of malnutrition compared to normal people (P< 0.001, OR= 3.45, CI (4.60-2.59)).

Considering the relatively higher prevalence of depression in the elderly population of Iran compared to some other countries, besides the increasing number of elderly people at risk of malnutrition, use of proper interventions can be helpful. Despite the association between malnutrition and depression, healthcare professionals should consider both physical and mental aspects in the treatment of elderly people with depression, malnutrition, or both.