Nutritional Status and Its Associated Factors among Elderly Lacto-Vegetarians of Budhanilkantha Municipality of Bagmati Nepal

Abstract

Elderly lacto-vegetarians have been identified as a high-risk group of nutrient deficiency like Protein, Fat, carbohydrate, calcium, multivitamin etc., due to unbalanced eating pattern. A descriptive cross-sectional study has been conducted at Budhanilkantha Municipality among 113 respondents. Data was analyzed in statistical software like SPSS version 25 and Microsoft excel. The study showed that 33.6% respondents were overweight, 19.4% were obese and 46.9% were normal according to BMI. Waist Hip Ratio shows that (46.9%) of the respondents had Moderate health risk, (20.3%) were in high health risk and 32.7% were normal in healthy range. Waist Circumference shows that out of total respondents 33.9% had increased risk of metabolic complications among Male (14.6%) and Female (19.2%). 61% of respondents were at the substantially increased risk of metabolic complications, Male (11.3%) and Female (49.7%). Factor such as Calories intake (P=0.00), fat intake (P=0.00), Gender (P=0.002), Ethnicity (P=0.00), Education level (P=0.00), Religion (P=0.000), Meal Intakes (P=0.00), Skipping Meals (P=0.00), carbohydrate intake (P=0.00), protein intake (P=0.00), were found to be statistically significant with Nutritional Status according to WHR. Factor such as Carbohydrate intake (P=0.019), Protein intake (P=0.00), were found to be statistically significant with Nutritional Status according to BMI. Majority of elderly lacto-vegetarian respondents were overweight and obese according to BMI and WHR shows health risk as well. Associated factors of Nutritional status are Gender, Religion, Ethnicity, Education level, Calories, Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrate.