• To enhance your awareness of the manifestations of eating disorders in older people
• To better understand why eating disorders in older people may remain undetected
• To explore the assessment of older people presenting with altered eating behaviours, weight and/or mental health
Changes in eating behaviours, weight and mental health in older people may be related to psychological distress and indicate the presence of a diagnosable eating disorder, rather than ‘anorexia of ageing’. Eating disorders in older people may be overlooked because signs and symptoms are assumed to be part of normal ageing. The role of nurses in the care of older people with eating disorders is likely to be detection, referral and support in accessing specialist intervention. This article offers an overview of eating disorders in older people and discusses why they may arise, why they may not be detected and how to recognise them. The authors describe a framework that nurses can use when assessing older people to determine whether they may have an eating disorder.
Nursing Older People. 34, 6, 22-27. doi: 10.7748/nop.2022.e1399
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondencelouisa.shirley@manchester.ac.uk
Conflict of interestNone declared
Shirley L, Lord N, Cheung L et al (2022) Recognising eating disorders in older people. Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2022.e1399
Acknowledgement The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Safiya Alyas to the referencing of this article
Published online: 26 October 2022
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