Study of Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hypovitaminosis C in Long Term Care Unit

Study of Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hypovitaminosis C in Long Term Care Unit

The clinical finding of skin rashes which appear after a vitamin C deficiency in Long Term Care Unit leads us to believe that the institutional diet could predispose to this kind of deficiency. Vitamin C has a key role into the struggle against oxidant stress and is involved into the connective tissue formation of the skin and the vascular endothelium. Vitamin C deficiency affects currently 15 to 25% of the elderly over 65 years old reaching 15% women and 20% men after 65 according to Johnston and Al. It concerns mainly the people in precarious situations (persons without fixed homes, ethyl-smoking persons) and elderly over 65 years. Hypovitaminosis C, defined by plasma level between 5 mg/L and 15 mg/L (28.41 to 85.23 µmol/L), is currently undiagnosed, especially with people with a risk of food deficiency and its prevalence increases with age. The treatment consists of a daily oral supplementation of 1 gram of vitamin C/d for 15 days. A minimum intake of 10 mg/D of vitamin C is required to prevent scurvy and maintain a total pool of 350 mg. A diet modification by a systematic intake of 2 glasses of fresh orange juice and/or the consumption of raw fruits and vegetables would prevent the appearance of scurvy.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male or female over 65 years old
• living in the Unit of Long Term Care without any limit time.
• with a system of social insurance
• Who gave its consent by his own , or with help of his representant or his tutor or curator.

Exclusion Criteria:

• rejection of the blood sample
• patient feeding with articial nutritional feeding (stomach tube feeding)
• person close to death, who is not able to feed himself and / or with life-threatening in short time.
• Patient with personal history of vitamin C deficiency.