INTRODUCTION: With aging, nutritional profile can undergo strong influence of environment factors and biological and social changes which intervene in food intake and the good use of nutrients. These changes could impact (positively or negatively) the quality of life perceptions in the aged. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the correlation of the quality of life perceptions and the nutritional status of elderly men institutionalized in a long-term facility in Curitiba city, state of Paraná, Brazil. METHODS: Observational survey using transversal methodology. WHOQOL-bref inquiry was applied to a selected sample of 35 elderly men, and the correlations of the medians of the domains and general questions from the instrument were analyzed with socio-demographic variables and the nutritional status of the sample, using three different nutritional methods. RESULTS: The nutritional status of the sample according to body mass index (BMI) found 42.8% of the elderly with low weight, 34.3% of them eutrophic, 8.6% with overweight and 14.3% classified as obese. Better quality of life perceptions were found to be correlated to overweight nutritional status, according to BMI and tricipital skin fold nutritional status index, and being younger. CONCLUSIONS: The overweight and the younger elderly from the studied aged sample showed the higher medians in the domains that compose the WHOQOL-bref inquiry.
Aged; Quality of Life; Nutritional Status; Health of the Elderly
