Background and objetives: Population aging has emerged as a major demographic trend worldwide. The objective of the present research was to study the risk of malnutrition in elderly patients older than 75 years that lived without relatives younger than them, and also to understand the effect of sex and age on nutritional status, as well as the anthropometric resulting values. Subjects and methods: A total of 63 patients older than 75 years were studied. The nutritional status was evaluated using the Mini Nutritional Assessment test. Results: Overall, 22% of the studied population presented a high risk of malnutrition. Although the sex did not affect the nutritional status of studied patients, the age significantly influenced it. Conclusions: Patients older than 81 years demonstrated a greater risk of malnutrition, suggesting the necessity of personalized nutrition strategies to improve their quality of life and reduce the prevalence of related-diseases. (C) 2011 Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.