A critical pathway for the management of elderly inpatients with malnutrition: effects on serum insulin-like growth...

Several guidelines recommend systematic screening for malnutrition in elderly inpatients for early dietary intakes assessment and treatment, but data demonstrating the efficacy of such interventions are scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate a critical medical pathway for the detection and management of malnutrition in elderly inpatients.

In a 3-month prospective controlled study, 694 recently admitted inpatients were assigned to an intervention group (critical medical pathway; n=465) or a standard care control group (n=229). Nutritional status was assessed at the time of admission with a Mini Nutritional Assessment. A renutrition program tailored to the initial dietary assessment results was applied in the intervention group. The efficacy of the program was verified by measuring the evolution of serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) between admission and 3 weeks later.

In the intervention group at baseline, 23% were malnourished, 51% were at risk and 26% were eunourished. Serum IGF-I increased in the intervention group (from 84±45 μg/l to 95±50 μg/l, P<0.0001; mean±s.d., n=209), but remained stable in the controls (from 79±43 μg/l to 81±35 μg/l, P=0.4; n=99), with a statistically significant between group difference (P<0.01).

Early malnutrition assessment and targeted renutrition program in elderly inpatients were associated with an increase in serum IGF-I. It remains to be determined whether such variations are clinically relevant.