Malnutrition in demented care home residents

Abstract

Introduction.– People with dementia have been identified to be at high riskofmalnutrition, especially if they reside in carehomes. The aim of this studywas to investigate the prevalence and characteristics ofmalnutrition in demented care homepatients longitudinally. Methods.– This study is part of the annual Dutch National Prevalence Measurement of Care Problems conducted by Maastricht University (LPZ).Onpatient level amongstother, demographicdata, (co)morbidity, care dependency and the prevalence aswell as other relevant indicators of nutritional care are measured. The diagnosis of malnutrition is determined by low BMI, undesired weight loss and low nutritional intake. Results.– Seventy-five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine residents (mean age 84) from 670 care home organizations participated over a period of 4 years. Sixty percent of the residents was care dependent and 32,6% suffered from dementia. When discriminating between demented (D) and non-demented (ND) residents, demented residents were overall significantly more care dependent (D 43,2, ND 85,2) P<0.001) and more often malnourished than non-demented residents (D26,7, ND18.0) P<0.001). Looking to the overall care home population and taking into account several care improvement programmes the prevalence of malnutrition shows a gradual but progressive decline over the years, while the malnutrition prevalence in the demented care home population remains rather stable. Conclusions.– That malnutrition prevalence in the demented care home population, despite increasing nutritional attention in daily practice, remains the same over the years, raises the question whether the phenomenon of Alzheimer cachexia should receive renewed scientific attention.