Nutritional status after short-term dietary supplementation in hospitalized malnourished geriatric patients

Aim: To examine the evolution of different parameters of the nutritional st atus after short-term oral protein-energy supplementation in moderately mal nourished geriatric patients. Methods: Seventeen hospitalized malnourished elderly patients and 12 health y adults received dietary supplements for 10 days. A group of six malnouris hed elderly subjects served as controls. Spontaneous oral intakes, biologic al and biophysical markers of the nutritional status were measured. Fat-fre e mass (FFM) was assessed using Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), bio -impedance analysis (BIA) and anthropometry. Results: In elderly subjects, the supplementation significantly increased b oth dietary intake (energy +32%, protein +65%) and FFM (+1.3 kg, P < 0.001) as assessed using DXA. BIA and anthropometric data correlated with DXA mea surements in the elderly (BIA: r = 0.68-0.80 anthropometry: r = 0.80-0.89), but failed to reflect accurately the changes measured in FFM. Supplementat ion had no notable effect on biological markers in any of the groups. IGF-I and hand-grip strength were not significantly influenced by the supplement ation despite trends towards an improvement. Conclusions: Monitoring short-term changes in nutritional status in malnour ished elderly individuals is a problem in routine clinical management. Our data put in the limelight the changes in IGF-I values related to dietary su pplementation, and, chiefly, suggest a prime role for the assessment of die tary intake and FFM, as assessed by DXA, as indicators of short-term effica cy of refeeding. Nevertheless larger studies are necessary to confirm the c linical and prognostic significance of the changes. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publi shers Ltd.