ABSTRACT

Poor or unbalanced diets as in the case of excessive eating and under nutrition are risk

S factors for several chronic diseases. This study was carried out to assess health seeking

behaviour, food habit and nutritional assessment of older persons (6Oyears and above) in

Abiriba Ohafia L.G.A., Abia state, Nigeria. A study interviewer questionnaires was

administered to 284 randomly selected subjects using multi stage sampling. In the first

stage, Abiriba was purposefully selected out of the fifteen districts in Ohafia LGA. In the

second stage the three clans were selected Ameke, Agboji and Amogudu, and through open

balloting, Ameke was selected for the study. Two hundred and fifty-eight older persons

(60years and above) who gave their informed consent were selected for the study to gel

information on their socio-economic data, health seeking behavior, food habit and

frequency list. Anthropometric indices of weight, height, waist circumference and hip

circumference was gotten. BMI and WHR of the respondents were derived using standard

measures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient

and significant difference judged at p<O.05 using SPSS version 20.0. The result showed

that (34.5%) visited the hospital within the week and 60.6% always adhere to advice given

to them during their visit to the hospital. More than half (56.3%) skipped meals while

45.6% skipped breakfast. Fruits was consumed every day by 37% of the elderly. Some oF

the food groups such as fish, vegetables, grains, legumes and baked foods were consumed

1-2 times a week by greater percentage of the older persons. Result revealed that 1 8.7%

were overweight and 5.3% were obese. Their waist hip ratio indicated that majority

(92.2%) of the women compared to 8.4% of the males were at risk of cardiovascular

diseases. Therefore, caregivers and relatives of the old people should be enlightened on the

need to improve feeding pattern of the elderly through nutrition, especially in the area of

fruits and vegetables intake. They should be encouraged to visit the hospital often.