Prevalence of nutrition disorders and nutrition-related conditions in older patients with Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUNDS

Alzheimer's disease is frequently encountered with nutrition-related conditions such as malnutrition, sarcopenia, frailty, overnutrition, and micronutrient abnormalities in older patients. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of nutrition disorders and nutrition-related conditions in the same patient group.

METHODS

A total of 253 older patients with Alzheimer's disease underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment, which included nutrition-related disorders, malnutrition via the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), frailty via the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and sarcopenia was diagnosed according to European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People-2 criteria.

RESULTS

The patients' mean age was 79.8 ± 6.5 years, and 58.1% were women. In our patients, 64.8% had malnutrition or were at risk of malnutrition; 38.3% had sarcopenia; 19.8% were prefrail; and 80.2% were frail. Malnutrition, frailty, and sarcopenia prevalence increased as the Alzheimer's disease stage progressed. Malnutrition was found to be significantly related with frailty scores via CFS (odds ratio [OR], 1.397; P = 0.0049) and muscle mass via fat-free mass index (FFMI) (OR, 0.793; P = 0.001). In logistic regression analysis, age, MNA-SF, and CFS were included in the model to detect the independent correlates of probable and confirmed sarcopenia. CFS was independently associated with probable and confirmed sarcopenia (OR, 1.822; P = 0.013; OR, 2.671; P = 0.001, respectively). Frailty was similarly related with FFMI (OR, 0.836; P = 0.031). Obesity was independently related with FFMI (OR, 0.688; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, nutrition disorders and nutrition-related conditions can present concurrently in patients with all stages of Alzheimer's disease; therefore, these frequent problems should be screened and diagnosed accordingly.