Background: Malnutrition is a multifactorial problem that contributes to many health problems, as a cause or as a
consequence. In elderly, it is a major health problem as it leads to progressive decline in physical and cognitive health,
increased utilization of health services, and increased mortality.
Aim: To screen the elderly persons for malnutrition and to detect the underlying factors of this problem.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 320 elderly persons. A structured interview
questionnaire sheet was used. It included sociodemographic data; anthropometric measurement; the Mini-Nutritional
Assessment-Short Form in its Arabic version; and physical, psychosocial, and cognitive risk factors of malnutrition.
Results: Overall, 35% of the participants were malnourished and 38.4% were at risk of malnutrition. There were
significant associations between malnutrition or being at risk of malnutrition and all the studied sociodemographic
characteristics (P