Relationships among Body Mass Index, Activities of Daily Living and Zinc Nutritional Status in Disabled Elderly Patients in Nursing Facilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the zinc nutritional status and the factors associated with serum zinc concentration in the elderly patients in two nursing facilities: body mass index (BMI), the level of care, the grade of bedriddenness, and the grade of cognitive function. The estimations of the hematological constituents, physical index, and dietary survey were made based on the examination carried out of the 26 disabled elderly patients (male 6, female 20, mean age 90±6 y). The results obtained from this study can be summarized as follows: 1) The low activities of daily living (ADL) group showed a low level of serum zinc concentration, although the uptake rate of zinc by subjects was shown to be high when compared to the Dietary Reference Intakes 2010. 2) The high ADL group showed a high level of serum zinc concentration. 3) The results of multiple regression analysis among the serum zinc concentration, the determined serum ingredients, and the physical characteristics showed the significant correlation of serum zinc concentration against the BMI, the level of care, height, Alb and iron values. 4) The BMI, the level of care, the grade of bedriddenness, and the grade of cognitive function of the subjects changed according to the zinc nutritional status. These results suggested that the actual requirements of zinc of the subjects were different according to the BMI, the level of care, the grade of bedriddenness, and the grade of cognitive function.