Circunferencia de pantorrilla como posible predictor de malnutrición en mujeres postmenopáusicas de sectores urbano-marginales de Guayaquil.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The world's population is increasing in people within the last decades of their life, especially those over 60 years of age, and the WHO states that this number will increase to 1.2 billion by 2025. Malnutrition as a consequence of overweight and obesity is seen in 35-40% of older adults in low-income or third world countries like ours. METHOD: The descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the association between calf circumference and malnutrition in postmenopausal women from urban-marginal sectors of Guayaquil, Ecuador. A Jamar brand dynamometer was used to measure grip strength. The MNA nutritional screening was performed. In addition, a scale (Seca 813) and a stadiometer (Seca 213) were used. RESULTS: Women with larger calf circumference had greater grip strength. Postmenopausal women with larger calf circumference were malnourished (18.7%), women with smaller calf circumference were at risk of malnutrition (14.7%), and women with circumferences in the normal range were not at risk or malnourished. CONCLUSION: Malnutrition is a problem that affects most older adults, especially women, which is why it is important to use tools such as MNA, grip strength and calf circumference to diagnose them in time.