Malnutrition among the Elderly in Malaysia and Its Associated Factors: Findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2018

Table 3

Associated factor to at-risk or malnutrition among the elderly in Malaysia.

Variable	Unadjusted odd ratio		Adjusted odd ratio
	OR	95% CI	aOR	95% CI
Sex
Men	1		1
Women	1.073	0.898–1.283	0.820	0.620–1.083
Strata
Urban	1		1
Rural	1.784	1.394–2.283	1.429	1.073–1.903
Age groups (years)
60–69	1		1
70–79	1.999	1.632–2.447	1.082	0.846–1.382
80 and above	4.395	3.113–6.205	0.987	0.593–1.642
Ethnicity
Malay	1		1
Chinese	0.667	0.485–0.916	0.583	0.377–0.902
Indian	1.173	0.645–2.133	1.392	0.788–2.458
Bumiputra Sabah	1.477	0.938–2.327	1.043	0.640–1.700
Bumiputra Sarawak	0.956	0.726–1.259	0.478	0.307–0.744
Others	1.640	0.810–3.318	0.995	0.541–1.829
Marital status
Married	1		1
Never married separated/widow	1.940	1.661–2.267	1.204	0.895–1.620
Education
No formal/primary	2.898	1.983–4.235	1.741	1.023–2.961
Secondary	1.199	0.772–1.861	1.172	0.727–1.890
Tertiary	1		1
Working status
Employed	1		1
Unemployed	1.239	1.035–1.484	0.918	0.700–1.205
Individual monthly income
<RM1000.00	2.318	1.696–3.170	0.973	0.660–1.435
RM1000.00–RM1999.99	1.756	1.213–2.542	1.283	0.867–1.898
≥RM2000.00	1		1
Depression
Yes	4.859	3.460–6.823	2.086	1.433–3.037
No	1		1
Hearing disability
Yes	4.382	2.8836.658	1.644	0.836–3.234
No	1		1
Vision disability
Yes	3.609	2.279–5.716	1.197	0.726–1.976
No	1		1
ADLs status
Dependent	4.298	3.294–5.608	1.350	0.990–1.840
Independent	1		1
IADLs status
Dependent	3.261	2.674–3.976	1.355	1.053–1.743
Independent	1		1
Fall history
Yes	1.444	1.117–1.867	1.130	0.807–1.583
No	1		1
Social support
Low to fair	2.522	1.9463.269	1.172	0.802–1.713
High	1.162	0.886–1.525	0.901	0.622–1.306
Very high	1		1
Quality of life status
Tertile 1 (<44)	4.527	3.250–6.308	1.879	1.334–2.646
Tertile 2 (45–51)	1.749	1.324–2.310	1.562	1.114–2.190
Tertile 3 (≥52)	1		1
BMI status
Underweight	7.551	4.682–12.180	6.725	4.071–11.110
Normal	1		1	1
Overweight	0.525	0.417–0.660	0.538	0.419–0.691
Obese	0.503	0.344–0.736	0.501	0.306–0.820
Food security status
Food secure	1		1
Food insecure	3.068	2.445–3.850	1.767	1.366–2.287
Fruit intake
<2 servings	1.352	0.982–1.860	0.960	0.647–1.423
≥2 servings	1		1
Vegetable intake
<3 servings	1.045	0.724–1.509	0.946	0.633–1.414
≥3 servings	1		1
Plain water intake
<6 servings	2.863	2.230–3.676	1.352	1.010–1.809
6–8 servings	1.758	1.291–2.393	1.446	1.010–2.071
>8 servings	1		1
Diabetes status
Yes	1.056		1.121	0.870–1.281
No	1		1	0.851–1.475
Hypertension status
Yes	0.983	0.826–1.169	1.188	0.984–1.434
No	1		1
Hypercholesterolemia
Yes	0.863	0.709–1.051	0.891	0.679–1.168
No	1		1

Significant <0.05 for logistic regression.