Relationship between frailty, nutrition, body composition, quality of life, and gender in institutionalized older people

Our aim was to explore the relationship between frailty, nutrition, body composition, and how gender modifies this relationship among long-term care facility residents. We further investigated how body composition correlates with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in both genders. In all, 549 residents (> 65 years of age) were recruited from 17 long-term care facilities for this cross-sectional study. Demographic information, diagnoses, use of medications, and nutritional supplements were retrieved from medical records. Participants’ frailty status, cognition, nutritional status, HRQoL, and body composition were determined. Energy, protein, and fat intakes were retrieved from 1- to 2-day food diaries. The final sample consisted of 300 residents (77% women, mean age 83 years). The majority of participants, 62% of women and 63% of men, were identified as frail. Frail participants in both genders showed lower body mass index (p = 0.0013), muscle mass (MM) (p < 0.001), poorer nutritional status (p = 0.0012), cognition (p = 0.0021), and lower HRQoL (p < 0.001) than did prefrail participants. Women had higher fat mass, whereas men exhibited higher MM. The HRQoL correlated with the MM in both women, r = 0.48 [95% CI 0.38, 0.57] and men r = 0.49 [95% CI 0.38, 0.58]. Interventions aimed at strengthening and retaining MM of long-term residents may also support their HRQoL.