Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate different components of nutritional status in older patients with cognitive deficit, particularly in those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 560 elderly subjects aged ≥ 65 years consecutively admitted to an acute Geriatric Unit of Apulia region of southern Italy. MEASUREMENTS: A standardized comprehensive geriatric assessment was used to evaluate medical, cognitive, affective and social aspects. Nutritional status was assessed using the mini nutritional assessment (MNA). The cognitive function was categorized into three levels - MCI, dementia or normal cognition (NoCI) - according to the neuropsychological test score. RESULTS: Subjects with cognitive decline had significantly lower frequency of well-nourished (MCI=10%, dementia=8%, NoCI=22%, p<0.05) and higher frequency of malnourished (MCI=47%, dementia=62%, NoCI=19%, p<0.001) than patients with normal cognition. Similarly, MNA total score, MNA-3 and MNA-4 subscores were significantly lower in patients with MCI and dementia than patients with normal cognition (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that cognitive decline may be associated with malnutrition in this sample of hospitalized older patients. Dietary habits (MNA-3) and subjective assessment of self-perceived quality of health and nutrition (MNA-4) are particularly poor also in patients with MCI and could be very important variables to be considered in the multidimensional evaluation of subjects with cognitive impairment.