Effects of Nutrition Counselling on Old Age People's Nutritional Status and Quality of Life in Bahir Dar City, North West Ethiopia

The chronological age of 60 or 65 years is conventionally the beginning of old age in the world. This study used the chronological age of 60 years and above to refers to old age people. Old age people are the world's fastest-growing population group. Yet, they are not positively healthier than earlier. This cause the potential to worsen the overall health of elders by limiting their nutritional status, productivity, and quality of life (QoL). Furthermore, the number of years lived with chronic diseases and disabilities are raising concurrently that greatly affecting our living arrangements, economies, and personal and professional aspirations.

Malnutrition and quality of life are an overall issue and influences a large portion of the total population. Nevertheless, people who are most vulnerable include old age people and people in poverty. Ageing and nutrition are by far the number-one driver of the global burden of disease. However, the malnutrition and QoL prevalence among old age people varies based on the definition used, screening tools, study settings (community or institutionalized), heterogeneity of study participants and geographical location. Even the prevalence rates vary widely between study samples using the same definition in the same health-care setting. This impedes the comparison between studies.

Even so, the global reported prevalence malnutrition among old age people ranged from 3% to 62%. Likewise, the mean score of QoL among elderly people reported from 47.72 to 53.60. The scores also varies within the physical, psychological, social, and environmental health domains. Moreover, apart from prevalent malnutrition, a large proportion of older people are at risk of developing malnutrition in all settings. The estimate ranges between 11.8% to 27% in the community/outpatients and 50% to 62% in all other health-care settings.

Even though the progression of ageing, illnesses and disabilities of old age people cannot be totally prohibited, appropriate measures can be taken to delay this progress and conserving their QoL. Appropriate nutrition assessment followed by timely intervention and regular follow up improves the nutritional status and QoL in old age people. However, nutritional problems and QoL are multifaceted and differ between individuals. Additionally, old age people are heterogeneous regarding a health condition, nutritional needs, preferences, and individual goals. Thus, it needs to adjust nutritional interventions individually. Yet, in many LMICs including Ethiopia, there is a shortage of data on the nutritional status, QoL and intervention outcomes of the aged people. Equally, the traditional supports given to older persons from families and communities have declined largely due to widespread poverty, urbanization, and globalization.

Therefore, this dissertation is proposed to estimate the effects of nutrition counselling on old age people's nutrition and health outcome in Bahir Dar City, Northwestern Ethiopia from April 18 to July, 29 2021.