Omission of meals, nutritional status and metabolic profile of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Skipping meals has been associated with cardiometabolic risk factors such as overweight and insulin re-sistance. Despite this, data on the frequency of meals and the influence on the nutritional and metabolic status of individu-als with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2) are scarce.Objective: To investigate the correlation between missed meals, body mass index (BMI) and metabolic profile of DM2 patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methodology: Cross-sectional study with 107 individuals followed at a Nutrition outpatient clinic of a reference hospi-tal in Fortaleza, Ceara. Socioeconomic, clinical, anthropomet-ric and biochemical data were collected. Meal omission was verified using a 24-hour dietary recall. The correlation be-tween the variables was verified by the Spearman and Chi -Square test, considering p<0.05 as significant.Results: The mean age of participants was 62 +/- 11.34 years, where most were women (57.9%). The mean BMI was 28.67 +/- 5.13 kg/m2 and most were overweight (68%). Participants ate an average of 5 +/- 0.94 meals per day. The median number of meals skipped was 1 (0 -3) and 60.7% skipped at least 1 meal. The most missed meals were supper (41%) and a morning snack (38%). There was a significant positive correlation between the number of skipped meals with BMI and weight.Conclusion: The number of skipped meals is directly cor-related with the nutritional status of older adults and elderly people with DM2.