Poor nutritional status (PNS) threatens successful aging. Identifying potentially modifiable predictors of PNS is essential for elaborating a preventive strategy for the population at risk. To assess the prevalence of PNS in the Polish elderly population and analyze its socioeconomic correlates based on the data from the nationwide PolSenior2 project. Special emphasis was put on potentially modifiable factors among the identified PNS predictors. Nutritional status was assessed in 5698 community-dwelling older adults with the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form. We evaluated the effect of age, sex, level of education, marital status, place of residence, subjective loneliness, and self-reported poverty on the nutritional status of the studied subjects. PNS was found in 25.3% of studied subjects (27.7% women and 21.9% men; p < 0.001). Female sex, older age, unmarried status (in men), subjective loneliness, and self-reported poverty were independent correlates of PNS. The two last above-mentioned predictors were identified as potentially modifiable. Based on our results, we recommend preventive interventions (e.g., performing regular screening), particularly in unmarried (men), poorly educated individuals, self-reporting poverty, complaining of loneliness, and the oldest old. PNS preventive strategies should include social support (both emotional and instrumental) to reduce the effect of poverty and subjective loneliness.
Keywords: malnutrition; older adults; poor nutritional status.