Effectiveness of mealtime interventions on nutritional outcomes for the elderly living in residential care: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Effectiveness of mealtime interventions on nutritional outcomes for the elderly living in residential care: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2013 Jun 27; Authors: Abbott RA, Whear R, Thompson-Coon J, Ukoumunne OC, Rogers M, Bethel A, Hemsley A, Stein K Abstract The need to improve the nutrition of the elderly living in long term care has long been recognised, but how this can best be achieved, and whether (and which) intervention is successful in reducing morbidity is less well understood. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness of mealtime interventions for the elderly living in residential care. Mealtime interventions were considered as those that aimed to change/improve the mealtime routine, practice, experience or environment. Following comprehensive searches, review and appraisal, thirty seven articles were included. Inadequate reporting in over half of the articles limited data quality appraisal. Mealtime interventions were categorised into five types: changes to food service, food improvement, dining environment alteration, staff training and feeding assistance. Meta-analysis found inconsistent evidence of effects on body weight of changes to food service (0.5kg; 95% CI: -1.1 to 2.2; p=0.51), food improvement interventions (0.4kg; 95% CI: -0.8 to 1.7; p=0.50) or alterations to dining environment (1.5kg; 95% CI: -0.7 to 2.8; p=0.23). Findings from observational studies within these inter...
Source: Ageing Research Reviews - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Ageing Res Rev Source Type: research