# Co-occurrence of depressive symptoms, risk of malnutrition, and functional limitations in chronically ill patients receiving long-term home care

## TL;DR

This study finds that many chronically ill patients receiving home care experience depression, malnutrition risk, and functional limitations at the same time.

## Contribution

The study highlights the frequent co-occurrence of depressive symptoms, malnutrition risk, and functional limitations in long-term home care patients.

## Key findings

- 67.6% of patients showed moderate to severe depressive symptoms.
- 85.5% were at risk of malnutrition.
- Depressive symptoms correlated negatively with nutritional status indicators.

## Abstract

The growing number of chronically ill individuals and the ageing of the population increase the need for systematic assessment of nutritional status and functional capacity in patients receiving long-term care. Malnutrition, reduced independence, and depressive symptoms often co-occur and may constitute a significant challenge when planning care in the home setting.

The aim of this study was to assess the co-occurrence of nutritional status, severity of depressive symptoms, and level of functional ability in chronically ill patients receiving long-term home care.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 234 patients receiving long-term home nursing care in Poland. A survey questionnaire and standardized instruments were used: the Barthel Index, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The analysis was performed using the Mann–Whitney U test and Spearman’s rho correlation (p ≤ 0.05). Due to the lack of clinical data on comorbidities and pharmacotherapy, no multivariate analyses were performed.

In the present study, the mean Barthel Index score (~19.4 points) indicated significant limitations in performing basic activities of daily living. Among the respondents, 67.6% showed moderate to severe depressive symptoms, while 85.5% were classified as being at risk of malnutrition. Significant negative correlations were found between the BDI score and all components of the MNA (rho = –0.301 to –0.381; p < 0.001), indicating that poorer nutritional status co-occurred with greater severity of depressive symptoms. In the studied group of patients receiving long-term home care, the concurrent presence of functional limitations, risk of malnutrition, and depressive symptoms was frequently observed. Given the cross-sectional design of the study and the absence of adjusted analyses, the findings should be interpreted with caution and treated as a description of co-occurrence, without the ability to infer the direction of the relationships.