Objective: To determine if family caregivers are aware of the severely underweight elder's risk of malnutrition and accordingly increase nutritional care efforts.
Design: Case-control study.
Participants: Familial caregivers to community-dwelling elders.
Measurements: Risk of malnutrition as defined by body mass index < or = 5th percentile of the national average for elders aged 65-90.
Results: Compared with caregivers of elders without risk for malnutrition, caregivers to undernourished elders are significantly more likely to give elders protein supplements, to make foods accessible to elders, and to encourage and pressure the elder to eat.
Conclusions: Caregivers recognize gross signs of malnutrition in elders, increase nutritional care in response, and deserve some measure of support for their claims of health expertise.