Individually tailored dietary counseling among old home care clients - Effects on nutritional status

Objective

To evaluate the effect of individually tailored dietary counseling on nutritional status among home care clients aged 75 years or older.

Design

Non-randomised controlled study.

Setting and participants

The study sample consisted of 224 home care clients (≥ 75 years) (intervention group, n = 127; control group, n = 100) who were at protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) or risk of PEM (MNA score <24 and plasma albumin <35 g/L).

Intervention

Individually tailored dietary counseling; the persons were instructed to increase their food intake with energy-dense food items, the number of meals they ate and their consumption of energy-, protein- and nutrient-rich snacks for six months.

Measurements

The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Body Mass Index (BMI) and plasma albumin were used to determine nutritional status at the baseline and after the six-month intervention.

Results

The mean age of the home care clients was 84.3 (SD 5.5) in the intervention group and 84.4 (SD 5.3) in the control group, and 70 percent were women in both groups. After the six-month nutritional intervention, the MNA score increased 2.3 points and plasma albumin 1.6 g/L in the intervention group, against MNA score decreased -0.2 points and plasma albumin -0.1 g/L in the control group.

Conclusions

Individually tailored dietary counseling may improve nutritional status among older home care clients.