Malnutrition and feeding difficulty in Taiwanese older with dementia

Aims and objectives. To determine differences in the physical and psychological factors and feeding difficulty between people who are well‐nourished and malnourished and to determine the predictors of risk of malnutrition and malnutrition in Taiwanese residents with dementia. Background. Malnutrition is a common problem among nursing home residents but frequently is unrecognised. Nutritional status of older people is associated with cognitive impairment and patients with dementia have high risk for malnutrition because of difficulties in eating. Design. A cross‐sectional design was used to determine predictors of risk of malnutrition and malnutrition. Methods. Subjects were recruited from five Taiwanese long‐term care facilities. Data were collected using Mini Nutritional Assessment Screening Form, body mass index, Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire, Barthel index, Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia scale and eating time. Results. Eighty‐three subjects participated. According to the Mini Nutritional Assessment Screening Form cut‐point scores, 75 (90·4%) residents with dementia had risk of malnutrition. However, using the World Health Organization (WHO) body mass index cut‐point of