Nutritional assessment of demented patients: a descriptive study.

Background And Aims: It is well-known that subclinical and overt malnutrition are strong predictive indices of morbidity and mortality in old subjects, particularly in demented ones, and may deeply affect the quality of life. The aim of this study was evaluation of nutritional status in demented patients, as a whole and according to type of dementia, at the moment of hospital admission and before discharge.

Methods: The study concerns 174 old demented patients, aged 80.