Triagem nutricional: identificação de alterações nutricionais na atenção à saúde do idoso

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed at identifying the nutritional conditions of elderly people by using the nutritional screening as a quick procedure in the identification of old people facing nutritional risk as a priority factor in the geriatric health. Method: This research was quantitative, descriptive and transversal and was carried out with elderly people from Palmeira das Missões, RS, Brazil. The variables which were analyzed were: the sociodemographic data, the anthropometric data and the nutritional screening. For the nutritional screening, the instrument called Nutrition Screening Initiative – NSI – was used in order to identify the elderly people who were at nutritional risk. The data were processed with the use of an Excel spread sheet and analyzed with the SPSS statistical software. The methodology for the analysis was the descriptive statistics involving the frequency and the tables, and the association of variables with the Chi—Square test. The research followed the recommendations of the 196/96 Resolution from the National Council of Health (CNS) and was approved by the Ethics Committee for the Research at UFSM – Federal University of Santa Maria. After agreeing with the terms proposed, the subjects of the research signed a Term of Informed Consent. Results: Four hundred and twenty-four (424) elderly people participated in the study, mostly women aging from 60 to 69 years old, married, with about 05 years of formal schooling and monthly income varying from 01 to 02 minimum wages. The nutritional screening identified that 48.9% of them were in good nutritional conditions; however, when we summed the moderate and high risks, they accounted for 51.1%, being superior to the good nutritional status rate. Conclusions: The NSI is an easily applicable instrument, and it can contribute as a strategy in the primary attention moment given to elderly people’s health.