The improvement in social and health conditions led to a significant increase in
life expectancy rates. This phenomenon is a challenge for health services due to the
increased risk and prevalence of agerelated diseases. Because of this demographic
transition, the present study aimed to characterize the sociodemographic, behavioral
and clinical profile of the elderly assisted in a nutrition laboratory at a university hospital
in the state of Pará. This is a crosssectional, descriptive, and quantitative study, which
included 156 elderly people of both sexes assisted by the nutrition service. Data were
obtained through the application of a form, and the assessment of nutritional status
was performed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment and functional and cognitive
capacity assessed according to the Katz index and the MiniMental State Examination,
respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using the BioEstat software, version
5.0. There was a prevalence of elderly people aged 6069 years (54%), women (71%),
low education (54%), income less than or equal to 1 minimum wage (47%), non drinkers (97%), nonsmokers (95%), the low practice of physical activity (76%), high
functional independence (84%, without cognitive impairment (75%). The number of
elderly people with more than one disease simultaneously was high (78%). Although
the nutritional status was normal in most of the sample (79%), there was a prevalence
of overweight according to BMI (54%). It is concluded that this study allowed draw a
characteristic profile of this population and found results similar to those characteristics
in the bibliography. Knowledge of such data contributes to the provision of adequate
and, consequently, more effective services to the elderly public, highlighting the
importance of frequent development of research in the field to favor healthy and active
aging in this population.
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