Finns det ett samband mellan sömnlöshetoch risk för undernäring?

: En empirisk studie på äldre patienter som vårdas påsjukhus

Abstract

Background: Studies show that one fourth of every patient in a hospital setting is inrisk of developing undernutrition. Complications of undernutrition are suffering for theindividual and prolonged hospital stay leading to increased healthcare costs.Undernutrition is expected to increase in the future when the elderly population grows.Undernutrition, eating difficulties and insomnia are common problems in the elderlypopulation. The question is whether undernutrition and eating difficulties are morecommon in elderly with insomnia or not. Aim: Was to investigate if there is acorrelation between insomnia and risk for undernutrition and between insomnia andeating difficulties. Method: The study was performed as a cross-sectional study. Thedata was obtained from a previous study performed by students at Kristianstad University. The sample consisted of elderly patients in a hospital setting. Findings:The study shows that risk for undernutrition and eating difficulties in the categoryenergy/appetite is more common in patients with insomnia than in patients withoutinsomnia. Conclusion: Although the study shows that there is a correlation betweeninsomnia and risk for undernutrition, there is an uncertainty if it’s a true correlation or ifdepression can be used as an explanation for both undernutrition and insomnia.