A growing number of California’s oldest residents are dying of malnutrition, a yearslong trend that accelerated during the COVID pandemic.
Deaths attributed to malnutrition more than doubled, from about 650 in 2018 to roughly 1,400 in 2022, according to preliminary death certificate data from the California Department of Public Health. The same trend occurred nationwide, with malnutrition deaths more than doubling, from about 9,300 deaths in 2018 to roughly 20,500 in 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Malnutrition is particularly common among older people, especially those who are ill, low-income, homebound, or without reliable access to healthy food or medical services. It can result from not eating enough but also from poor eating habits that lead to nutritional deficiencies. The majority of deaths in California from malnutrition last year occurred in residents 85 and older.
Several experts said COVID lockdowns likely cut off access to healthy food. Because the oldest people were the most likely to die from COVID, officials encouraged them to limit their exposure to others who might have the disease.
“People who may have been reliant on public transportation or reliant on others to get to the grocery store — suddenly they’re nervous to take the bus,” said Lindsay Clarke, senior vice president of health education and advocacy at the Alliance for Aging Research, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C. “That family member or friend who would have come to pick them up and take them to the grocery store is worried about having them in their car.”
Pandemic lockdowns also hindered safety net programs that feed seniors. For example, many adult day care centers closed, eliminating places for seniors to go during…
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