How to improve hydration and fluid intake in institutionalized older people? A scientific literature review

Abstract

residents are vulnerable to suffer of dehydration due to physiological changes and the physical and cognitive limitations. to handle this situation, it has been decided to evaluate the interventions which are carried out for the management of dehydration and low fluid intake in older people living in nursing homes. the revised scientific literature review methodology of PRISMA was applied. An electronic database search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL and other sources databases. The literature search was carried out between October 2016 and January 2017. Out of a total of 3,379 articles extracted, eleven studies were selected for analysis. In addition, their quality was assessed through Cochrane and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. the risk of bias in the studies was mostly medium. Regarding the results, the interventions were classified according to whether they were invasive or non-invasive. Invasive interventions were intravenous and/or subcutaneous fluid therapy. Their effectiveness was related to the clinical improvement of dehydration. However, local reactions appeared. Non-invasive interventions focused on the individualized assistance, the stimulation to drink more and the consideration of the preferences of each resident, producing an increase in fluid intake and an improvement in analytical parameters. given the peculiarities of the institutionalized elderly population, both types of intervention have been shown to have a positive effect on improving hydration. Nonetheless, non-invasive interventions have confirmed to be more efficient given their simplicity of application and cause fewer adverse effects.