Nutritional status and physical function of older adults living in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

Background: Adequate nutrition is essential for healthy ageing for both reducing the risk of chronic diseases and preserving physical function for living long and independent lives. The prevalence of malnutrition is on the rise among elderly individuals in sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is a lack of empirical data on the nutritional status and physical function of older individuals in the region. This hinders the development of effective treatments to promote healthy ageing. Objective: This study aimed to systematically review the literature to assess the nutritional status of older adults living in sub-Saharan Africa and to establish the association between nutritional status and physical function of older adults. Design: We systematically searched five electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles published in English language between 2000 and 2023. The search, selection, extraction, and quality evaluation were carried out by 2 reviewers. Results: Eighteen studies met the criteria and were included in this review. Undernutrition (underweight) ranged from 1.8% to 41%, overweight from 2.1% to 45.1%. and obesity from 2% to 65%. The ADL showed a dependency level for different activities or functions and ranged from 9% to 76.5% and IADL ranged from 29% to 72.7%. Inability to feed, food preparation, mobility, poor handgrip strength and inactive state were the main physical function factors associated with the nutrition status of the older adults. Conclusions: The nutrition status was found to be associated with ADL and instrumental activities of daily living as well as muscle strength. The study shows evidence of limited data from rural settings as the review showed that most of the studies were conducted in urban settings. PROSPERO registration number CRD42023430056.