At the end of the presentation the participant will be able to identify the association between nutrition status of older adults and their propensity to fall.

In older adults, fall-related injury is a serious public health problem. Nutrition inadequacy and falls are both frequently identified in the elderly; however, nutrition status of older adult fallers is not routinely assessed, and no previous studies were identified that investigated the nutrition status of community-dwelling older adult fallers. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between nutrition status and falls among older adults. A prospective convenience sample of 28 community-living older adults, age 65 or more was recruited from seven senior centers. Participants were men and women aged 80 ± 6.6 years. All subjects were interviewed regarding the occurrence of falls in the last year, and nutritional status was measured using the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), a validated tool designed specifically for use with the geriatric population. As classified by the MNA-SF, 50% of participants (n= 14) were “at risk” of malnutrition, and 3.6% (n=1) were identified as malnourished. Correlation analyses indicated a significant association between the number of falls sustained by subjects and their nutrition assessment score (r2 = 0.33, p < 0.001). An increase in number of falls correlated with a decrease in the MNA-SF score. The majority of older adult fallers in this pilot study were either malnourished or “at risk” of being malnourished. These findings suggest routine nutrition assessment of older adults may be a fall prevention strategy. Further investigation is indicated to assess the benefits of nutritional intervention among older adult fallers.