Nutritional status, survival and mortality in Alzheimer patients - a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction : Dementia is a common health problem in elderly people, Alzheimer disease (AD) being the most prevalent. AD can be considered as a cause of death and must be registered on the death certificate of the patients. However, most of the time, the main cause of death registered is not related to AD, but as an underlying or contributing cause. For example, individuals who have AD and die from myocardium infarction. This study aimed to analyze if nutritional status was associated with survival and mortality for AD, and if AD was reported as actual cause of death on the death certificate Methods : The study was carried out as a cross-sectional study with elderly citizens of the community registered in the National Health System (SUS), with cognitive, nutritional, biochemical and hematological evaluations of 30 AD patients in Guarapuava, Paraná state, Brazil. Results : Significant differences were not observed between live and dead patients when evaluated considering the methods applied. Only 22% of the death certificates stated death due to AD. The patient’s cause of death showed a strong relation to respiratory issues; potential explanations based on immunological, biochemical and comorbidity were not confirmed on this study. Conclusions : AD was not declared as the cause of death in the majority of certificates, contributing to the underreporting and reducing the information of death due to AD in the country.