A Pilot Study of Malnutrition Among Elderly in a Malaysia Elderly Care Centre - Part I: Assessment of Handgrip Strength Measurement

Abstract

The number of elderly population in Malaysia of aged 60 years and above is expected to increase every year. Apart from that, the life expectancy of the elderly population is also estimated to rise up with female tend to live longer than male. These uncontrollable factors can lead to a declining healthy lifestyle if the current health care system is inadequate and inappropriate in providing services to the elderly population especially to those that require rehabilitation program to return to their premorbid function. In some cases, these frail elderly were sent to Elderly Care Centre by their primary care taker due to limited nursing ability, time and space. In this pilot study, handgrip strength among elderly and pre-elderly community residing at an Elderly Care Center in Branang, Malaysia is measured using a cross-sectional study design. In overall, 12 male occupants (8 elderly, 4 pre-elderly people) aged 50 years and above were interviewed to obtain data on their sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, hand functionality and hand strength measurements. The overall sample mean (standard deviation) age are 63 (8) years. The mean (standard deviation) of handgrip measurements is 12.47 (6.69) kg.