Nutritional supplementation for hip fracture aftercare in the elderly

Fractures of the hip are an important cause of later ill health and mortality in elderly people. People with hip fractures are often malnourished at the time of fracture, and have poor food intake in hospital.

This review assesses the effects of nutritional interventions in elderly people recovering from hip fracture.

We searched the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Injuries Group trials register, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Medline, Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, Embase, Biosis, Cinahl, Healthstar and reference lists. We contacted investigators, and hand searched Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, Clinical Nutrition and The Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Date of the most recent search: June 1999.

Randomised and quasi-randomised trials of nutritional interventions of mainly older patients (aged over 65 years) with hip fracture.

Trial allocation to included, excluded and awaiting assessment categories, was by consensus. Both reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Additional information was sought from all trialists. Pooling of data for primary outcomes and select exploratory analyses were undertaken.

Fifteen randomised trials involving 943 participants were included. Overall the quality of trials was poor; specifically in terms of allocation concealment, assessor blinding and intention to treat analysis. This, and the limited availability of outcome data, mean that the following results must be interpreted with caution. Oral multinutrient feeds (providing non-protein energy, protein, some vitamins and minerals), evaluated by six trials, may reduce unfavourable outcome (death or complications) (14/66 versus 26/73; Peto odds ratio 0.28, 95% confidence interval 0.11 to 0.67), but did not demonstrate an effect on mortality (12/91 versus 14/97; Peto odds ratio 0.82, 95% confidence interval 0.34 to 1.96). Four trials, examining nasogastric multinutrient feeding, showed no evidence for an effect on mortality (Peto odds ratio 0.98, 95% confidence interval 0.44 to 2.17), but the studies were heterogeneous regarding case-mix. Insufficient information was provided to evaluate unfavourable outcome. The effect of protein in an oral feed, tested in two trials, showed no evidence for an effect on mortality (Peto odds ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.31 to 2.79), but may have reduced days spent in rehabilitation wards. Two trials, testing intravenous thiamin (vitamin B1) and other water soluble vitamins, or 1-alpha-hydroxycholecalciferol (an active form of vitamin D) respectively, produced no evidence of benefit for either vitamin supplement.

The strongest evidence for the effectiveness of nutritional supplementation exists for oral protein and energy feeds, but the evidence is still very weak. Future trials are required which overcome the defects of the reviewed studies, particularly inadequate size, methodology and outcome assessment.