Table 3.

Prevalence of nutritional risk symptoms stratified by race/ethnicity and sex, using the components of the abridged Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (abPG-SGA), in urban community-dwelling older adults, Chicago, IL, USA, August–October 2017

		White (N 373)		Black (N 369)		Hispanic (N 259)			Male (N 307)		Female (N 694)
Variable	N	n	%	n	%	n	%	P †	n	%	n	%	P ‡
During the past two weeks my weight has:	962							0·53					0·26
Decreased		44	12	52	15	36	15		44	15	88	13
Not changed		293	81	270	76	189	77		226	75	526	79
Increased		24	7	32	9	22	9		30	10	48	7
Food intake§	995							<0·0001					0·10
Less than usual		63	17	113***	31	59	23		62	20	173	25
Unchanged		272	73	220	60	177	69		211	69	458	66
More than usual		37	10	32	9	22	9		33	11	58	8
If less than usual intake, now consuming:	235	(N 63)		(N 113)		(N 59)			(N 62)		(N 173)
Normal food	233	57	93	104	92	57	97	0·53	59	95	159	93	0·76
Little solid food	235	16	25	55**	49	39***	66	<0·0001	31	50	79	46	0·56
Only liquids	235	2	3	3	3	10*	17	0·003	6	10	9	5	0·23
Only nutrition supplements	234	3	5	13	12	13**	22	0·02	5	8	24	14	0·23
Very little of anything	228	11	18	34	31	33***	57	<0·0001	22	35	56	34	0·80
Tube or vein feedings	235	1	2	0	0	0	0	–	1	2	0	0	–
Symptoms
No problems eating	1000	361	97	353	96	249	96	0·82	298	97	665	96	0·23
No appetite	998	57	15	101***	27	56*	22	0·0004	52	17	162	23	0·02
Nausea	1000	16	4	24	7	22	8	0·10	17	6	45	6	0·56
Vomiting	1001	5	1	6	2	10	4	0·08	6	2	15	2	0·83
Constipation	999	21	6	49***	13	61***	24	<0·0001	31	10	100	14	0·06
Diarrhoea	1000	31	8	32	9	20	8	0·91	24	8	59	9	0·71
Mouth sores	1001	12	3	7	2	4	2	0·33	10	3	13	2	0·18
Dry mouth	1000	35	9	36	10	47**	18	0·001	31	10	87	13	0·27
Things taste funny	997	13	4	50***	14	46***	18	<0·0001	36	12	73	11	0·58
Smells bothersome	994	18	5	47***	13	33***	13	0·0005	17	6	81	12	0·003
Problems swallowing	1001	10	3	12	3	9	3	0·83	10	3	21	3	0·85
Early satiety	991	102	28	130*	36	102**	39	0·008	92	30	242	35	0·13
Pain	998	17	5	34*	9	11	4	0·01	16	5	46	7	0·38
Fatigue	999	45	12	62	17	56**	22	0·007	48	16	115	17	0·70
Other problems	1000	12	3	14	4	7	3	0·75	9	3	24	3	0·67
Activities and function	993			***		**		0·0002					0·74
Normal without limitations		277	75	230	63	168	65		210	69	465	68
Not my normal self		78	21	87	24	54	21		65	21	154	22
Not feeling up to most things		12	3	25	7	17	7		17	6	37	5
Able to do little activity/bedridden		3	1	24	7	18	7		13	4	32	5

*P<0·05, **P<0·01 and ***P<0·001 are used to denote differences of Black and Hispanic participants where White participants are the referent population. All other P values reflect difference across all groups. Responses of ‘don’t know’ or ‘refused’ are treated as missing and excluded from the denominator.

^†From logistic regression analyses (multinomial for weight change and ordinal for activities and function).

^‡From tests for row mean score differences for activities and function; Fisher’s exact test for variables with any expected cell values <5 and χ ² tests for other variables.

^§For logistic regression and χ ² analyses, ‘unchanged’ and ‘more than usual’ were combined and compared with ‘less than usual’.