Efficacy of Mealtime Interventions for Malnutrition and Oral Intake in Persons With Dementia: A Systematic Review.

Efficacy of Mealtime Interventions for Malnutrition and Oral Intake in Persons With Dementia: A Systematic Review. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2020 Jun 10;: Authors: Borders JC, Blanke S, Johnson S, Gilmore-Bykovskyi A, Rogus-Pulia N Abstract Malnutrition and weight loss are highly prevalent in persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Oral intake is an important interventional target for addressing these nutritional consequences. However, the efficacy of interventions remains poorly understood as prior syntheses have failed to examine the impact of intervention approaches on malnutrition and hypothesized mechanisms of action in persons with dementia. This review aimed to determine the efficacy of mealtime interventions to improve oral intake and nutritional outcomes in persons with dementia. Four databases yielded 1712 studies, resulting in 32 studies that met inclusion criteria. Studies included education, environmental modifications, feeding, oral supplementation, and other pharmacologic/ecopsychological interventions. While the majority of studies reported statistically significant improvements in at least 1 nutritional outcome, study design and outcome measures were heterogenous with many lacking adequate statistical power or blinding. Collectively, we found moderate evidence to suggest the efficacy of oral supplementation, and preliminary evidence to suggest that feeding interventions, education, and environmental...
Source: Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord Source Type: research