Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2011 , Vol 14, Issue 1
AN EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL HABITS AND BLOOD FINDINGS OF ELDERLY MALE AND FEMALE CARDIAC PATIENTS
Gülperi HAKLI1, Funda Pınar ÇAKIROĞLU2
1Ankara Üniversitesi Ev Ekonomisi Yüksekokulu, Beslenme Bilimleri, ANKARA
2Ankara Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Beslenme ve Diyetetik Bölümü, ANKARA
Introduction: This study was designed and conducted to evaluate the nutritional habits and blood findings of cardiac patients over 65 in terms of healthy eating.

Materials and Method: This definitive study was conducted on 150 elderly patients over the age of 65 who admitted to the Cardiology Clinic of the Turkish Yüksek İhtisas Hospital located in Ankara between January and March 2009 and volunteered to participate in the study. Data were gathered through survey forms, and blood findings were obtained from the hospital laboratory. The data were analyzed by using the SPSS 13.0 package program with respect to the variable of gender.

Results: The results showed that the elderly participants had positive nutritional habits regarding the number of meals, skipping meals, fat, meat and dessert preferences, meat cooking methods, poultry consumption styles, salt, offal and fatty seed consumptions, and negative habits regarding yoghurt, cheese and bread preferences. Of the elderly participants, 88.7% were overweight to different degrees, and 55.3% was at risk for HDL-cholesterol.

Conclusions: We determined that elderly cardiac patients needed information about food selection, cooking methods and physical activity. Keywords : Cardiac Disease; Aged; Diet