Assessment of Nutritional Status and Dietary Pattern of Rural and Urban Retirees in Selected Communities of South-West Nigeria

The study assessed nutritional status and dietary pattern of rural and urban retirees in selected communities in South-West Nigeria. Four research questions were raised to guide the study and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with 420 respondents. Three instruments were used for the study which is laboratory analysis, structured questionnaire and measurement of anthropometric indices. The instrument was validated by experts while its reliability test was done using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation which yielded a co-efficient of 0.83. Frequency, Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer research questions while Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to test the hypothesis. The results of the study showed that level of food intake was high but low in quality, more than half of the retirees are at a high nutritional health risk, the nutritional status was normal for male retirees and risky for female. Furthermore, the relationship between food intake and nutritional status is insignificant for rural retirees but, low, negative and significant for rural and urban retirees in selected community in South-West Nigeria. The study recommended, among others, that proper attention should be given to retirees’ food intake to reduce the observed prevalence of nutrient deficit in order to improve their quality of life.