the chinese expert consensus on nutritional and dietary care for the elderly in old-age institutions (2023 edition) was published in the chinese journal of multiple organ diseases of the elderly.
chinese geriatric society nutrition and food safety branch
【 key words 】 elderly care institutions; nutrition for the elderly dietary care; expert consensus
[chinese library classification number] r153.3 [document code] a [doi] 10.11915 / j.issn.1671-5403.2024.01.001
china is the country with the largest elderly population in the world. the results of the seventh population census show that the elderly population aged 65 and above in china reaches 190 million, accounting for 13.5% of the total population [1]. in recent years, as the proportion of the elderly population increases year by year, the elderly suffering from chronic disease and disability and dementia gradually increase, people's demand for pension services is increasingly strong, and the scale of pension institutions in china is increasing year by year. according to the statistical bulletin on the development of civil affairs undertakings and the statistical bulletin on the development of health undertakings in 2021 issued by china, by the end of 2021, there will be a total of 358,000 institutions and facilities for the elderly in china, with a total of 8159,000 beds for the elderly, among which 6,492 institutions are integrated with medical and nursing care [2,3].
in elderly care institutions, 22% of the elderly are malnourished, and 36% to 59% are at risk of nutrition or malnutrition [4,5]. it is mainly related to the following physiological and sociological factors [6-8]. with the increase of age, many diseases coexist in most elderly groups, and physiological functions such as chewing, swallowing, digestion and metabolism gradually decline, and the absorption and utilization of nutrients decrease. in addition, the feeding conditions of elderly care institutions, the education level of elderly people and their economic status are also related to the occurrence of malnutrition. as an indispensable part of social pension, the importance of institutional pension cannot be ignored, which provides the possibility for the standardization of nutrition management for the elderly. at present, the pension institutions in our country are still in their infancy [9]. in order to improve the dietary quality and nutritional level of elderly care institutions, at the end of 2021, the ministry of civil affairs successively promulgated the basic standards for dietary services of elderly care institutions [10] and the standards for the evaluation and monitoring of the nutritional status of the elderly in elderly care institutions [11]. the above specifications mainly provide provisions for the environment and facility requirements, safety and emergency requirements, service content and requirements, nutrition evaluation and monitoring, and lack specific practical content for the elderly nutrition management team building and nutrition service process in elderly care institutions. in 2022, the office of the national working committee on aging issued the notice on carrying out the action on improving nutrition for the elderly [12], which pointed out that the key objectives of this action are to enhance the nutrition and health awareness of the elderly, improve the nutritional and health status of the elderly, and enhance the nutrition and health service level of the health system for the elderly.
in order to respond to the call of the state and further promote the implementation and development of nutrition services in china's elderly care institutions, the nutrition and food safety branch of the chinese geriatric society completed the writing of this consensus by conducting a survey on the nutritional needs of 187 domestic elderly care institutions and taking the problem as the orientation. considering the current situation that the "combination of medical and nursing care" type of elderly care institutions in china accounts for less than 2%[2,3] and the industry nutrition service capacity is limited, this consensus is for the record of the ministry of civil affairs / licensed national elderly care institutions, with dietary care as the core to build the elderly nutrition and dietary care model, and based on the service capacity differences of different levels of elderly care institutions to form a hierarchical consensus opinions, aimed at improving their nutritional and dietary service capacity, to provide practical reference for professionals and related managers of elderly care institutions, to provide standardized, process and scientific and reasonable nutrition and dietary services for the elderly yes.
