Impact of Cognition and Handfeeding Assistance on Nutritional Intake for Nursing Home Residents

Malnutrition is a common problem in the elderly living in nursing homes. A clear understanding of associated factors is missing. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence of malnutrition and to determine factors independently associated with malnutrition in this setting.

Weight loss and poor nutrition have been important considerations in measuring quality of nursing home care since 1987. Our purpose was to examine, synthesize, and provide a systematic review of the current literature on the prevalence and definitions of nutritional problems in nursing home residents. In the fall of 2011, we performed MEDLINE searches of English-language articles published after January 1, 1990. Articles were systematically selected for inclusion if they presented prevalence data for general nursing home populations on at least one of the following: weight loss, low body mass index, Mini-Nutritional Assessment or other measure of malnutrition, poor oral intake, or dependency for feeding. Data on each study, including study author, year, setting, population, type of study (study design), measures, and results, were systematically extracted onto standard matrix tables by consensus by a team of two fellowship-trained medical school faculty geriatrician clinician-researchers with significant experience in long term care. The MEDLINE search yielded 672 studies plus 229 studies identified through related citations and reference lists. Of the 77 studies included, 11 articles provided prevalence data from the baseline data of an intervention study, and 66 articles provided prevalence data in the context of an observational study of nutrition. There is a wide range of prevalence of low body mass index, poor appetite, malnutrition, and eating disability reported among nursing home residents. Studies demonstrate a lack of standardized definitions and great variability among countries. Of all the measures, the Minimum Data Set (MDS) weight loss definition of ≥5% in 1 month or ≥10% in 6 months had the narrowest range of prevalence rate: 6% to 15%. Weight loss, as measured by the MDS, may be the most easily replicated indicator of nutritional problems in nursing home residents for medical directors to follow for quality-improvement purposes. Additional studies are needed, reporting the prevalence of the MDS weight loss definition among international nursing home residents.

The current approach to assessing nutritional intake requires nursing home (NH) staff to document total percentage of food and fluid consumed at each meal. Because NH staff tend to significantly overestimate total food intake, methods need to be developed to improve the accuracy of food intake measurement. To compare three methods of assessing the nutritional intake of NH residents. Validation Study. Fifty-six NH residents in one facility. Total percentage of food and fluid intake of each resident for each of nine meals, or all three meals for 3 consecutive days, was assessed by: (1) Nursing home staff chart documentation, (2) Research staff documentation according to direct observations, and (3) Research staff documentation according to photographs of residents' trays before and after each meal. Research staff documentation of total intake and intake of all individual food and fluid items was similar for the direct observation and photography methods. In comparison with these two methods, NH staff documentation reflected a significant overestimate (22%) of residents' total intake levels. In addition, NH staff failed to identify the more than half (53%) of those residents whose intake levels were equal to or below 75% for most meals. The photography method of nutritional assessment yielded the same information as direct observations by research staff, and both of these methods showed the intake levels of NH residents to be significantly lower than the intake levels documented by NH staff. The photography method also has several advantages over a documentation system that relies on an observer to be present to record food and fluid intake levels.