ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: Ageing is a natural and irreversible process, associated with deterioration of physiological, social and cognitive activities. The nutritional status of the elderly is adversely affected by declining cognitive and functional ability. The association of nutritional status with diet quality, functional and cognitive ability and depression among the elderly is not well understood. This study aimed to compute the association of nutritional status with diet quality, functional and cognitive ability and depression among the elderly. Method: A cross-sectional study was undertaken on 250 elderly (146 men, 104 women) of ≥65 years, residing in Tonk district of Rajasthan (India). Self-developed elderly dietary index (EDI) was used to evaluate diet quality and standardized tools, viz., geriatric depression scale (GDS), activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), mini nutritional assessment (MNA), and short portable mental status questionnaire (SPMSQ) were used to assess depression, functional status, nutritional status and cognition respectively. Results: Two-thirds of the elderly in this study were at risk of malnutrition (66.67%, n= 167). MNA scores had significant association with Indian EDI (χ2 = 47.50, p=0.000), ADL (χ2 = 32.37, p= 0.000) and SPMSQ (χ2 =18.61, p= 0.001), whereas MNA scores had non significant association with IADL (χ2 = 14.30, p= 0.006) and GDS scores (χ2 = 5.44, p= 0.066). IADL scores were found to be significantly correlated with GDS (r= -0.255) and SPMSQ (r= -0238) Conclusion: Present study shows that the nutritional status of the elderly is associated with diet quality, functional and cognitive ability, but is not associated with depression in the elderly of Tonk.
ABSTRACT
Background/Aims@#Diagnostic abdominal paracentesis has been described in literature to have variable sensitivity of 50%–75% for the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). We believe that random needle aspirates from the omentum, even in the absence of obvious deposits by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), could prove malignancy in patients with PC. @*Methods@#Consecutive patients who underwent EUS for diagnosis and staging of cancer and found to have ascites were included after obtaining informed consent. EUS-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) from random sites in the omentum was performed through the transgastric route using a linear echoendoscope. @*Results@#Fifty-four patients underwent EUS during October 2015 to April 2017 for detection, staging, or FNA of a suspected malignant lesion. Ascites was seen in 17 patients and 15 patients who fulfilled the criteria were included. The procedure was successful in all patients. Cytology was suggestive of malignancy in 12 (80%) but not suggestive of malignancy in 3 (20%) patients. Three patients who tested negative had hyperbilirubinemia with biliary obstruction. Their ascitic fluid analysis result was also negative. @*Conclusions@#Random FNA of the omentum in patients with malignancy-related ascites is highly effective in the diagnosis of PC and could be employed during EUS evaluation of malignancies.