Correlation between Nutritional Deficit and the Presence of Depressive Symptoms: Comparative study between elderly Brazilians and Portuguese in primary health care

Our research showed that the risk of malnutrition or the presence of malnutrition was associated with the presence of depressive symptoms in the sample studied. In the intergroup comparison, among Brazilians, those at risk of malnutrition were more likely to have changes associated with depression, while for the participants from Portugal, the odds ratio tended to show no changes, as the majority were individuals without nutritional or depressive demands. In general, most participants were at risk of malnutrition/malnourishment, which was strongly associated with low income and low education. These findings allowed us to indicate our research hypothesis.