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.