Nutritional And Health Status Of Elderly Diabetics In University Of Nigeria Medical Center, Nsukka And Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi

ABSTRACT

This study focused on investigating the Nutritional and Health Status of Elderly Diabetics in University of Nigeria Medical Centre, Nsukka • and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching hospital, Nnewi Questionnaires were developed and used to determine their demographic factors, dietary and anthropometry factors, risks factors, physical assessments and cognitive functions of the respondents. From the Basal Metabolic Index table 23% of the respondents were discovered to be obese in Nsukka and 30.8% for Nnewi. From the Blood Pressure table, 52.2% of the respondents were found to be hypertensive (severe) for Nsukka and 30.8% were found for Nnewi. '0 Also, the degree of patients' knowledge about the disease shows that more of the respondents at Nsukka are more enlightened than Nnewi and they suffer more of Type II diabetes which signifies that it is common among the elderly. Other diseases include stroke (prevalence 50% at 65 — 75years of age) and cataract (prevalence of 50% at 65 — 75years of age). More of the respondents at Nsukka and Nnewi gave positive answers to the questions developed for the cognitive function and physical assessment showing that diabetes affects them to a lesser extent.