To investigate the iron status of the long-term hospitalized elderly patients in community health centers and explore its risk factors of iron overload.

Four community health centers were selected for study by cluster random method from Fengxian District of Shanghai from October 7, 2018 to November 7, 2018. The data of 226 patients ≥65 years who had been long-term hospitalized (≥30 consecutive days) were collected, including the basic information, physical measurement, basic activities of daily living (Katz index), cognitive disorder (mini-mental state examination), nutritional status (mini nutritional assessment-short form), and serum ferritin. According to serum ferritin levels, patients were divided into three groups: iron deficiency, normal iron and iron overload, and the risk factors for iron deficiency were tested by univariate and multivariate regression analysis.

The mean age of 226 patients was (84.2±8.1) years, and males accounted for 37.2% (84/226), with average 160 (81, 409) consecutive days of hospitalization. The proportion of patients with iron deficiency, normal iron and iron overload were 1.8% (4/226), 34.9% (79/226) and 63.3% (143/226). The mean values of corresponding serum ferritin were (14.6±9.4) ng/ml, (97.3±46.7) ng/ml and (324.8±188.9) μg/L, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that compared with the patients with normal iron status, waist circumference [(84.3±11.9) cm vs.(88.3±11.8) cm, t=2.390, P=0.018] and calf circumference [(28.2±5.0)cm vs. (29.8±5.7) cm, t=2.192, P=0.029] of the patients with iron overload were smaller, and there were significant differences in scores of the Short-Form Mini-Nutritional Assessment between two groups (χ²=7.458, P=0.024). After adjusting for age and gender, multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the risk of iron overload for patients with malnutrition was 2.169 times (95%CI: 1.108-4.247, P=0.024) higher compared with those in normal nutrition status.

Iron overload is common in elderly patients who are long-term hospitalized in community health centers; general practitioners should carefully assess the iron status for them, especially for those with malnutrition.

Iron; Iron overload; Ferritins; Community health centers; Aged