Mood and physical activity are associated with appetite in hospitalised older men and women

Abstract

Background: the anorexia of ageing is an important factor in the development of malnutrition, frailty and sarcopenia amongst the older population and is a particular problem for hospital inpatients. This study assessed factors associated with appetite in a group of hospitalised older adults, to identify potential preventive strategies.

Design: cross sectional observational study.

Setting: eleven wards in one large hospital in England.

Subjects: older inpatients aged 70 years and over, admitted non-electively.

Methods: appetite was assessed using the 4-item Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ). Associations between SNAQ score and appetite-related factors present in the dataset were assessed in continuous analyses, including physical activity, mood, medication, cognition and living circumstance.

Results: 200 participants, mean age of 80.7 years (SD 6.9); 40% female. Prevalence of poor appetite was 43%. In univariate analyses lower medication count, higher level of physical activity and better mood were associated with higher SNAQ scores during admission. In a multivariate analysis, independent associations of higher levels of physical activity and better mood with higher SNAQ scores during hospital admission remained.

Conclusion: in this group of older adults, better mood and higher levels of habitual physical activity were independently associated with better appetite during hospital admission. These are potentially modifiable factors and could be targets for future research into interventions for the anorexia of ageing in the hospitalised older population.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Kinda Ibrahim: orcid.org/0000-0001-5709-3867

ORCID for Helen Roberts: orcid.org/0000-0002-5291-1880

ORCID for Sian M. Robinson: orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-7269

ORCID for Stephen Lim: orcid.org/0000-0003-2496-2362

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