Nutritional intervention as part of functional rehabilitation in older people with reduced functional ability: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomised controlled studies

Abstract

This meta-analysis highlights concerns regarding the quality of the randomisation of participants at baseline. Future high-quality research is essential to establish whether older people with loss of functional abilities can benefit from nutritional intervention.

Assignment of Registered Dietitians and Other Healthcare Professionals Positively Affects Weight Change of Underweight Patients in Convalescent (<i>Kaifukuki</i>) Rehabilitation Wards: A Secondary Analysis of a Nationwide Survey

“…On the contrary, the FIM and home discharge were not affected by whether or not RDs were assigned. This finding is consistent with previous studies regarding nutritional intervention, indicating that even when performed with rehabilitation, nutritional intervention did not improve functional recovery (21,22). Additionally, the effect of assignment of RDs on BMI gain (0.1 kg/ m 2 ) was lower than the minimum clinically important difference of BMI (0.7 kg/m 2 ) (23).…”

Nutritional supplementation for activities of daily living and functional ability of older people in residential facilities: A systematic review

“…Although there are some differences in background between their review and the present review, nutritional supplementation tends to improve handgrip strength significantly. With regard to reviews that investigated the effects of nutritional intervention combined with rehabilitation, these found no significant improvements in ADL (Beck et al ., Collins et al Collins et al …”

Efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions to treat malnutrition in older persons: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The SENATOR project ONTOP series and MaNuEL knowledge hub project

“…These have suggested that energy and protein intake can be improved (Abbott et Baldwin and Weekes, 2011;Collins and Porter, 2015;Milne et al, 2009a;Poscia et al, 2018) but have unfortunately not shown clear results for functional or clinical outcomes. Indeed, several reviews have commented on the weaknesses in methodological design of primary studies which result in inconclusive results (Beck et al, 2016). These include a lack of consistency in the assessment of function, meaning meta-analysis is not possible, lack of power due to small sample size leading to a risk of type-2 errors, differences in the amount and composition of nutrients included in the supplement, inclusion of well-nourished persons who are less likely to benefit from treatment, and high risk of bias and differences in baseline measures between groups (Beck et al, 2016).…”

“…Indeed, several reviews have commented on the weaknesses in methodological design of primary studies which result in inconclusive results (Beck et al, 2016). These include a lack of consistency in the assessment of function, meaning meta-analysis is not possible, lack of power due to small sample size leading to a risk of type-2 errors, differences in the amount and composition of nutrients included in the supplement, inclusion of well-nourished persons who are less likely to benefit from treatment, and high risk of bias and differences in baseline measures between groups (Beck et al, 2016). Other reviews have also only examined specific population groups (e.g.…”