Abstract
Targeted nutritional therapy should be started early in severe illness and sustained through to recovery if clinical and patient-centred outcomes are to be optimised. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has shone a light on this need. The literature on nutrition and COVID-19 mainly focuses on the importance of nutrition to preserve life and prevent clinical deterioration during the acute phase of illness. However, there is a lack of information guiding practice across the whole patient journey (e.g., hospital to home) with a focus on targeting recovery (e.g., long COVID). This review paper is of relevance to doctors and other healthcare professionals in acute care and primary care worldwide, since it addresses early, multi-modal individualised nutrition interventions across the continuum of care to improve COVID-19 patient outcomes. It is of relevance to nutrition experts and non-nutrition experts and can be used to promote inter-professional and inter-organisational knowledge transfer on the topic. The primary goal is to prevent complications and support recovery to enable COVID-19 patients to achieve the best possible nutritional, physical, functional and mental health status and to apply the learning to date from the COVID-19 pandemic to other patient groups experiencing acute severe illness.
Highlights
Patients recovering from COVID-19 disease experience malnutrition [1], low physical function and functional capacity leading to impaired ability to perform activities of daily living [2,3,4]
Prospective multi-centre study of non-critically ill hospitalised COVID-19 patients showed that a reduced self-reported food intake before admission to hospital and/or predicted by physicians post-admission was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality or admission to the ICU [19]
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought existing key challenges in nutritional care under the spotlight but offers a stimulus to embed new practices, developed in quick response to the pandemic, into routine practice to ensure that patients receive early, assertive, multi-modal nutritional care that is tailored to their needs and goals
Summary
Patients recovering from COVID-19 disease experience malnutrition [1], low physical function and functional capacity leading to impaired ability to perform activities of daily living [2,3,4]. At follow-up, 60 days after onset of COVID-19 symptoms, over 40% of patients who were hospitalised with. A survey of middle-aged COVID-19 patients who had persistent symptoms, but who were not hospitalised, found that care dependency amongst this group increased [7]. The aetiology of ICU-acquired frailty and weakness is well known, as is the potential for targeted nutrition support to modulate both its development and its treatment [8]. It is likely that patients with severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalisation and intensive care will have experienced even more profound physical, functional, psychological and cognitive effects. Nutritional support must be started early, targeted to individual patient needs and maintained across the continuum of care. Policymakers across acute care and primary care can implement assertive, multi-modal, individualised nutritional care that is evidence-based and aims to improve outcomes that matter to patients
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
