Antropometría y composición corporal en personas mayores de 60 años: evaluación con bioimpedancia multifrecuencia en parroquias rurales ecuatorianas 2025-2026

Abstract

With the aging of the rural population in Ecuador, this population is exposed to malnutrition, sarcopenia, and functional decline, associated with difficulty accessing health services and poor socioeconomic conditions. Electrical bioimpedance (BIA) allows estimating body composition; the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) establishes the nutritional risk of older adults. To examine the association between body composition, nutritional status, functionality, and chronic diseases in older adults from three rural parishes of Cuenca, Ecuador. Cross-sectional study in 302 older adults, with a mean age of 74.3 ± 7.6 years. Two body composition profiles were established using the k-means technique in cluster analysis. Comparison tests, Spearman correlations, and ROC were used for associations and predictive capacity. 56.5% presented risk of malnutrition according to the MNA. Body composition showed no significant correlations with the MNA or discriminative capacity for predicting nutritional risk (AUC: 0.479–0.540). Nutritional risk was significantly associated with worse balance and gait, as well as with greater risk of falls and functional dependence. BMI and fat mass were associated with hypertension and diabetes, while lower lean mass and skeletal muscle were associated with greater functional dependence. In this Andean rural population, BIA allowed identification of overweight, obesity, and associations with cardiometabolic diseases, although it should not be considered an adequate isolated indicator of malnutrition risk. Comprehensive geriatric assessment, and especially functional status and fall risk, should accompany nutritional screening in primary rural care to guide preventive decisions and improve appropriate clinical follow-up. Keywords: older adults; electrical bioimpedance; nutritional status; functional capacity; risk of falls; rural area; Ecuador.