Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39223630›Full record

ArticleIsrael journal of health policy research2024

The attitudes and knowledge of family physicians regarding malnutrition in the elderly: a call for action.

Galia Sheffer-Hilel, Josefa Kachal, Aya Biderman, Danit Rivka Shahar, Shimon Amar

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Article in Israel journal of health policy research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

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0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Galia Sheffer-HilelNutrition Sciences Department, Faculty of Sciences at, Tel-Hai Academic College, Kiryat Shmona, Israel. galia@telhai.ac.il.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6873-7170
Josefa KachalNutrition Sciences Department, Faculty of Sciences at, Tel-Hai Academic College, Kiryat Shmona, Israel.
Aya BidermanDepartment of Family Medicine and Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Danit Rivka ShaharDepartment of Public Health, The Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Shimon AmarDepartment of Family Medicine and Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMalnutrition in the elderly places a significant burden on healthcare, social, and aged-care systems, yet it often remains undiagnosed and untreated. This study aims to evaluate family physicians' knowledge and attitudes towards the diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition in the elderly.

methodsBased on a literature review, an online questionnaire was developed, comprised of seven knowledge-related items and eight attitude-related questions regarding malnutrition in elderly populations. We also assessed the feasibility of including two malnutrition screening questions in regular clinic visits for individuals aged ≥ 70 years.

resultsSurveys were completed by 126 physicians (35% response rate), mean age 47.2 ± 12.6 years; 15.6 ± 12.5 years of practice; 67% females; and 92% board-certified family physicians. Moreover, 77.6% agreed that diagnosing malnutrition is important in patients with decreased appetite. Most respondents demonstrated knowledge of nutritional screening principles (63.5%) and recognized that even obese elderly individuals could be malnourished (83.2%). There was partial agreement (60%) that normal BMI values in the elderly differ from those in younger populations. Almost complete agreement was seen for incorporating two nutritional status questions in medical visits (91%), with physicians expressing willingness to receive training in malnutrition identification and screening tools. Despite challenges such as time constraints and limited knowledge, participants were open to conducting biannual malnutrition risk screening for elderly patients.

conclusionWe recommend malnutrition screening in primary care followed by malnutrition diagnosis and referral of malnourished patients to the proper intervention.

Indexed as

MalnutritionPhysicians, FamilyAdultAgedAttitude of Health PersonnelFemaleHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHumansIsraelMaleMiddle AgedSurveys and QuestionnairesElderlyFamily physicianGLIMMalnutrition

Identifiers

PMID39223630
PMCPMC11367879

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.