Aims:

To report and verify whether fluid intake is suitable in patients aged over 65 who attend primary care consultations and to establish their relationship with morbidity, self-perception of health, physical activity and sociodemographic characteristics.

Design:

Descriptive prevalence study and crossed association.

Location:

Albacete Area 8 Healthcare Centre.

Participants:

119 people aged over 65 who attend primary care consultations.

Primary endpoints:

Fluid intake, physical activity, self-perception of health, sociodemographic variables anthropometric measurements, health problems and chronic medication. After performing a descriptive analysis, statistically significant associations were verified between the amount of fluid intake and the remaining variables and a logistic regression model was built with suitable or unsuitable intake as a dependent variable.

Results:

Average daily consumption of water contained in fluids was 1948.01ml (95% CI=1808.8-2087.20), which is insufficient according to European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommendations. A total of 67.7% (95% CI=56.0-79.2) of women had suitable intake compared to 41.7% (95% CI=26.7-56.7) of men (P=0.005). A negative correlation was detected between age and water consumption (R=-0.317; P<0.001). Female sex (OR=3.7) and walking more than 2.5 hours a week (OR=2.8) were associated with suitable intake by means of logistic regression.

Conclusions:

Patients aged over 65 who attend primary care consultations have insufficient fluid intake. This is more marked in males and sedentary people and there is a negative correlation between age and the amount of water ingested.

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