Abstract:Objective To investigate the nutritional status and its influencing factors in the community-dwelling elderly in Beijing by comprehensive geriatric assessment, including mini-nutritional assessment-short form (MNA-SF), chronic diseases, geriatric syndromes and life style. Methods A face to face investigation was carried out on 941 older people aged over 65 years who were living in 4 communities in Chaoyang District, Beijing and willing to participate our survey. Results The participants were at an age of (75.8±7.0) years, with medium age of 76 years. Their body mass index (BMI) was (23.82+4.2)kg/m2. The results of MNA-SF indicated that there were totally 441 subjects (46.9%) having nutrition problems, including 34(3.6%) of malnutrition (with the score ranging from 0 to 7) and 407 (43.3%) of the risk of malnutrition (with the score ranging from 8 to 11). Chi-square test demonstrated that the risk factors for nutrition problems were aged over 85 years (χ2=9.65, P=0.002), female (χ2=6.82, P=0.01), mateless (χ2=5.63, P=0.02), on-the-job (χ2=4.36, P=0.04), having 3 or more multimorbidities (χ2=3.71, P=0.05), and chronic lung disease (χ2=5.21, P=0.02). Conclusion Nutrition problems are common in the community-dwelling elderly. Health education should be strengthened, nutrition screening and assessment should be taken into routine physical examination. Special attention should be paid to the oldest and those with comorbidities.