BMI: a simple, rapid and clinically meaningful index of under-nutrition in the oldest old?

BMI is commonly used as a sole indicator for the assessment of nutritional status. While it is a good predictor of morbidity and mortality among young and middle-aged adults, its predictive ability among the oldest old remains unclear. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of nutrition 2009-05, Vol.101 (9), p.1300-1305
Main Authors: Miller, Michelle D., Thomas, Jolene M., Cameron, Ian D., Sheng Chen, Jian, Sambrook, Philip N., March, Lyn M., Cumming, Robert G., Lord, Stephen R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidental Falls - statistics & numerical data
Age
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Anthropometry - methods
Biological and medical sciences
Body Mass Index
Consent
Falls
Feeding. Feeding behavior
Female
Females
Fracture
Fractures, Bone - epidemiology
Frail Elderly - statistics & numerical data
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Homes for the Aged
Hostels
Humans
Male
Malnutrition
Mortality
New South Wales - epidemiology
Nursing care
Nursing homes
Nutrition
Nutrition assessment
Nutritional Status
Older people
Risk Assessment - methods
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
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Summary:BMI is commonly used as a sole indicator for the assessment of nutritional status. While it is a good predictor of morbidity and mortality among young and middle-aged adults, its predictive ability among the oldest old remains unclear. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between BMI and risk of falls, fractures and all-cause mortality among older Australians in residential aged care facilities. One thousand eight hundred and forty-six residents of fifty-two nursing homes and thirty hostels in northern Sydney, Australia, participated in the present study. Baseline weight and height were measured and BMI (kg/m2) calculated. For 2 years following the baseline measurements, incidence and date of all falls and fractures were recorded by research nurses who visited the facilities regularly and date of death was documented based on the participants' records at each facility. Cox proportional hazards regression models were calculated to determine the relationship between baseline BMI and time to fall, fracture or death, within 2 years following the baseline measures taken to be the censoring date. After adjustments were made for age, sex and level of care, low BMI ( 
ISSN:0007-1145
1475-2662
DOI:10.1017/S0007114508076289