[Frailty in the elderly and nutritional status according to the Mini Nutritional Assessment].

BACKGROUND: The aging process involves psychosocial and physiological changes, which modify the nutritional status in the elderly. The objective was to assess the nutritional status of a group of elderly patients using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and the Fried frailty index, as well as the relation between both.

METHODS: From June to July, 2013, we carried out a cross-sectional study with consecutive sampling of 146 patients of both sexes, from the Hospital Civil "Fray Antonio Alcalde", in Guadalajara, México. We applied the MNA and the Fried frailty index.

RESULTS: The mean age was 81.7 years (±7.65). One hundred and six patients (72.6%) were females, and 40 were males (27.4%). Basic anthropometric data showed that the mean weight was 57.67 kg (±13.7), with a mean of 1.52 (±0.09) meters in size; body mass index was 24.85 (±5.32) kg/m2. The results showed that 14.1% of patients with a normal nutritional status suffered from frailty, while 42.1% had risk of malnutrition and frailty.

CONCLUSION: Frailty in the elderly is still present even if they have a normal nutritional status; when the nutritional status decreases, there is a higher prevalence of frailty in this age group.