Improving Malnutrition in Hospitalized Older Adults: The Development, Optimization, and Use of a Supportive Toolkit.

Malnutrition is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among older adults. However, diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition in the hospital setting are often overlooked. In recent years, quality improvement (QI) initiatives to increase the assessment and treatment of malnutrition in hospital settings have been implemented and shown to improve both patient health and economic outcomes. The Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii) Toolkit was designed in an effort to support hospitals seeking to implement malnutrition QI initiatives. The Toolkit has been implemented, studied, and updated for optimization of content, adaptability, and usability over several cycles of improvement from 2016-2017 at more than 50 hospital centers in the United States. The result is an open access, customizable, and user-friendly MQii Toolkit that can facilitate the implementation of malnutrition QI initiatives in individual facilities. This article introduces the MQii Toolkit, describes the process by which it was designed and improved, and orients clinical care teams to its use. FUNDING/SUPPORT: Publication of this supplement was supported by Abbott. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics does not receive funding for the MQii. Avalere Health's work to support the MQii was funded by Abbott.

Perioperative Oral Nutrition Supplementation Reduces Prevalence of Sarcopenia following Radical Cystectomy: Results of a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE: We designed a prospective randomized, controlled pilot trial to investigate the effects of an enriched oral nutrition supplement on body composition and clinical outcomes following radical cystectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 61 patients were randomized to an oral nutrition supplement or a multivitamin multimineral supplement twice daily during an 8-week perioperative period. Body composition was determined by analyzing abdominal computerized tomography images at the L3 vertebra. Sarcopenia was defined as a skeletal muscle index of less than 55 cm/m in males and less than 39 cm/m in females. The primary outcome was the difference in 30-day hospital free days. Secondary outcomes included hospital length of stay, complications, readmissions and mortality. RESULTS: The oral nutrition supplement group lost less weight (-5 vs -6.5 kg, p = 0.04) compared to the multivitamin multimineral supplement group. The proportion of patients with sarcopenia did not change in the oral nutrition supplement group but increased 20% in the multivitamin multimineral supplement group (p = 0.01). Mean length of stay and 30-day hospital free days were similar in the groups. The oral nutrition supplement group had a lower rate of overall and major (Clavien grade 3 or greater) complications (48% vs 67% and 19% vs 25%, respectively) and a lower readmission rate (7% vs 17%) but the differences did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who undergo radical cystectomy after consuming an oral nutrition supplement perioperatively have a reduced prevalence of sarcopenia and may also experience fewer and less severe complications and readmissions. A larger blinded, randomized, controlled trial is necessary to determine whether oral nutrition supplement interventions can improve outcomes following radical cystectomy.

Cost-Effectiveness of Nutrition Intervention in Long-Term Care.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the cost-effectiveness of two nutrition interventions on food, beverage, and supplement intake and body weight. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled trial. SETTING: Five skilled nursing home facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Long-stay residents with orders for nutrition supplementation (N = 154). INTERVENTION: Participants were randomized into a usual care control group, an oral liquid nutrition supplement (ONS) intervention group, or a snack intervention group. Research staff provided ONS, according to orders or a variety of snack foods and beverages twice per day between meals, 5 days per week for 24 weeks and assistance to promote consumption. MEASUREMENTS: Research staff independently weighed residents at baseline and monthly during the 24-week intervention. Resident food, beverage and supplement intake and the amount of staff time spent providing assistance were assessed for 2 days at baseline and 2 days per month during the intervention using standardized observation and weighed intake procedures. RESULTS: The ONS intervention group took in an average of 265 calories more per day and the snack intervention group an average of 303 calories more per day than the control group. Staff time required to provide each intervention averaged 11 and 14 minutes per person per offer for ONS and snacks, respectively, and 3 minutes for usual care. Both interventions were cost-effective in increasing caloric intake, but neither intervention had a significant effect on body weight, despite positive trends. CONCLUSION: Oral liquid nutrition supplements and snack offers were efficacious in promoting caloric intake when coupled with assistance to promote consumption and a variety of options, but neither intervention resulted in significant weight gain.

Consuming a balanced high fat diet for 16 weeks improves body composition, inflammation and vascular function parameters in obese premenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: Inflammation, insulin resistance and vascular dysfunction characterize obesity and predict development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although women experience CVD events at an older age, vascular dysfunction is evident 10years prior to coronary artery disease. Questions remain whether replacing SFA entirely with MUFA or PUFA is the optimal approach for cardiometabolic benefits. This study tested the hypotheses that: a) body composition, inflammation and vascular function would improve with a high fat diet (HFD) when type of fat is balanced as 1/3 SFA, 1/3 MUFA and 1/3 PUFA; and b) body composition, inflammation and vascular function would improve more when balanced HFD is supplemented with 18C fatty acids, in proportion to the degree of 18C unsaturation. METHODS: Obese premenopausal women were stabilized on balanced HFD and randomized to consume 9g/d of encapsulated stearate (18:0), oleate (18:1), linoleate (18:2) or placebo. RESULTS: Significant improvements occurred in fat oxidation rate (↑6%), body composition (%fat: ↓2.5±2.1%; %lean: ↑2.5±2.1%), inflammation (↓ IL-1α, IL-1ß, 1L-12, Il-17, IFNγ, TNFα, TNFß) and vascular function (↓BP, ↓PAI-1, ↑tPA activity). When compared to HFD+placebo, HFD+stearate had the greatest effect on reducing IFNγ (↓74%) and HFD+linoleate had the greatest effect on reducing PAI-1 (↓31%). CONCLUSIONS: Balancing the type of dietary fat consumed (SFA/MUFA/PUFA) is a feasible strategy to positively affect markers of CVD risk. Moreover, reductions in inflammatory molecules involved in vascular function might be enhanced when intake of certain 18C fatty acids is supplemented. Long term effects need to be determined for this approach.

Food modification versus oral liquid nutrition supplementation.

Oral liquid nutrition supplements (ONS) are widely used in community, residential and healthcare settings. ONS are intended for individuals whose nutrient requirements cannot be achieved by conventional diet or food modification, or for the management of distinctive nutrient needs resulting from specific diseases and/or conditions. ONS appear to be most effective in patients with a body mass index of

Oral strategies to supplement older adults' dietary intakes: comparing the evidence.

Despite the current global obesity crisis, undernutrition remains prevalent among older adults worldwide. This review compares the efficacy of the main oral strategies used to increase older adults' energy and nutrient intakes, i.e., meal enhancement, multivitamin/multimineral supplementation and oral liquid nutrition supplements. Well-designed long-term investigations that are adequately powered to differentiate effects on nutritional, clinical, functional, and cost outcomes are much needed before scientific and clinical consensus can be reached on where and when to implement any strategy as the optimal choice for improving dietary intakes in a specific older adult population.