People 85 and up are disproportionately affected by malnutrition that can lead to death, a new study finds. The report showed that malnutrition in people over 65 fell between 1999 and 2006, plateaued until 2013 and then soared until 2020.
In addition to people over 85 being impacted differently compared to other demographic groups, females, non-Hispanic white people, and people living in urban areas and the Western United States are also affected differently, according to the report.
A study published Nov. 7 in BMC Medicine examined malnutrition mortality trends in people ages 65 and older. The researchers gathered data from Americans between 1999 and 2020. The team examined factors such as race, region, gender, and whether a person lived in a rural or urban area.
During the study period, 93,244 older adults died from malnutrition in the US. Of the deaths, 34.3% were in medical facilities, 30.2% were at nursing homes and long-term care facilities and 25.6% of the deaths happened in private homes.
Malnutrition in people over 65 deaths soared from 10.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 1999 to 25 deaths per 100,000 people in 2020. Deaths went down 8.8% from 1999 to 2006, and they plateaued until 2013. Then the deaths rose 22.4% between 2013 and 2020.
In 2020, 4.1% of people ages 65 to 74 died from malnutrition and 3.55% of people 75 to 84 years old died of the same cause. That same year, 4.1% of people over the age of 85 died from malnutrition. The age-adjusted mortality rate for people 65 to 74 in 2020 was 5.6; it was 21.1 in people 75 to 84 years old, and 118.9 in people 85 years old and up.
“Diseases, outside the realm of mental health disorders, have also been shown to increase the risk of malnutrition,” the authors wrote. “Considering more than 80% of older adults in the U.S. have at least one chronic disease, this may be an important additional contributor to our findings given the significant burden of malnutrition among these patients.”
Of note, 4.4% of deaths from malnutrition happened in urban areas, while 2.5% occurred in rural regions.
“The end result is that malnutrition mortality rates represent a historical high,” the authors wrote.
The team said that effective interventions are strongly needed to ensure people have food and help clinicians detect malnutrition in older adults.
