AJCN North Carolina Research Campus
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kergoat, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Imbach, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kergoat, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Imbach, A.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Kergoat, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Imbach, A.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 46, 849-861, Copyright © 1987 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Discriminant biochemical markers for evaluating the nutritional status of elderly patients in long-term care

MJ Kergoat, BS Leclerc, C PetitClerc and A Imbach
Department of General Medicine, Centre hospitalier Cote-des-Neiges, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

To determine the most discriminant serum markers of protein-energy status in elderly patients, we performed a discriminant analysis of 85 subjects grouped according to triceps skinfold and midarm circumference values as compared with reference percentiles. Results indicated that neither the classic serum indices of nutritional assessment nor retinol- binding protein can predict undernutrition. However, creatinine, urea, carotene, complement C3, and prealbumin included in a function enabled high discrimination between groups: 68% of subjects in 0-5th percentile for triceps skinfold and 75% of subjects in 0-5th percentile for midarm circumference are correctly predicted. Lower serum concentration was found in the lower anthropometric percentiles except for serum carotene, which showed an inverse relation not explained by diet. We found that nutritional alterations exist in hospitalized elderly patients. We emphasize the importance of considering several biochemical markers for detection of mal-nutrition and the pertinency of further exploration of serum carotene profiles in undernourished elderly patients.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1987 by The American Society for Nutrition