Abstract

Question:Aging is a natural and continuous human process, but it is accompanied by fasting, eating less than needed or completely cutting off starches, fruits, etc., in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes which will make patients’ malnutrition both common and quite serious. Objectives of the study: - Assess the malnutrition rate of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes by SGA, BMI methods and some biochemical indexes. - Compare the prevalence of malnutrition in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes when assessing malnutrition according to BMI with other methods. Research Methods: A crosssectional study of 300 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes at the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Tien Giang General Hospital from March 2022 to September 2022. Result: -The rate of malnutrition of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes assessed by SGA method was 32.7% (of which mild malnutrition was 27.3% and average malnutrition was 5.4% ). The malnutrition rate of patients assessed by Hb index was 31.7%; RBC index was 28.3%; based on Lymphocyte index was 6.3% and according to BMI was 2.0%. -Several factors were related to the rate of malnutrition: Assessment of the prevalence of malnutrition by the SGA method tended to be 9.83 times higher than that of the assessment of malnutrition status by BMI (p < 0.05). Assessment of malnutrition according to RBC index tended to be 3.62 times higher than that of BMI, although it is not statistically significant. There is no evidence of relations found regarding the status of malnutrition assessed by the Hb and Lymphocyte indexes compared with BMI (<18.5) in this study. Conclusion: Assessment of malnutrition status based on BMI < 18.5 and Lymphocyte index gave very low rates of 2.0% and 6.3%, respectively, which did not reflect the malnutrition status of hospitalized patients compared with those in other studies. Assessing the malnutrition status of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes by SGA method and based on RBC index gave almost the same results (32.7% and 31.7%). A blood count is a routine test, considering the RBC index, we can initially quickly determine the patient’s nutritional status for timely treatment.