Influence of cognitive function and nurse support on malnutrition risk in nursing home residents

Aim: To predict malnutrition risk of older residents by cognitive function, nurse support and self-care capacity as primary measures of interest.

Design: Cross-sectional, correlation design with linear regression analysis.

Methods: Older residents over 60 years of age were randomly selected from nursing homes. Mini Mental State Exam and the Mini Nutritional Assessment were used were as main measures.

Results: Lower malnutrition risk was associated with better cognitive functioning. Improved independence of self-feeding was also linked to reduced nutritional risk. Nurse support was positively related to BMI and cognitive impairment. General self-care capacity and 'appetite the week before' were key predictors of malnutrition risk; 1-point increase in both variables caused nutritional risk to decrease by 1.73 and 1.38 points, respectively. That is, a 1-point increase in self-care capacity and appetite would decrease malnutrition risk by 5.76% and 4.6%. The regression model explained significant amount (65.6%) of variance in malnutrition risk.