•Part of a rolling programme of national
nutritional surveys of different sectors of the British population
•
•Previous study of a non-representative sample
of 365 elderly >70 years showed:
-
malnutrition in 7%, anaemia
in 12.5%
- vitamin B12 deficiency
2.5%, folate deficiency
5.4%
- vitamin B1 deficiency
8%, vitamin B12 deficiency
30%
(DHSS
1979)
•
•Risk of deficiency rose with increasing age,
prevalence of chronic
illness and socio-economic deprivation
•
•Link between poor nutrition and common
diseases; cardiovascular,
poor immunity, osteoporosis and possibly mental illness and early dementia
•
•A study of acutely ill geriatric patients in
Leeds revealed a high
incidence of nutritional deficiencies (next two slides)