Refrigerator content and hospital admission in old people

We assessed whether the refrigerator contents of elderly people could be re lated to subsequent admission to hospital. 132 patients aged over 65 years had a thorough assessment of their refrigerator contents and the numbers an d dates of admission were recorded. Elderly people with empty refrigerators were more frequently admitted (p=0.032) in the month after assessment and three times sooner than those who did not have empty refrigerators (34 vs 1 00 days, p=0.002).