Malnutrition in older adults

Malnutrition is a highly prevalent condition in older adults, and poses a substantial burden on health, social, and aged-care systems. Older adults are vulnerable to malnutrition due to age-related physiological decline, reduced access to nutritious food, and comorbidity. Clinical guidelines recomme...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2023-03, Vol.401 (10380), p.951-966
Main Authors: Dent, Elsa, Wright, Olivia R L, Woo, Jean, Hoogendijk, Emiel O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age
Aged
Clinical practice guidelines
Comorbidity
COVID-19
Dietary supplements
Fortified foods
Guidelines
Humans
Malnutrition
Malnutrition - diagnosis
Malnutrition - epidemiology
Malnutrition - therapy
Nutrition
Nutrition Assessment
Nutritional Status
Nutritional Support
Older people
Pandemics
Parenteral nutrition
Parenteral Nutrition - adverse effects
Risk Factors
Socioeconomic factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Malnutrition is a highly prevalent condition in older adults, and poses a substantial burden on health, social, and aged-care systems. Older adults are vulnerable to malnutrition due to age-related physiological decline, reduced access to nutritious food, and comorbidity. Clinical guidelines recommend routine screening for malnutrition in all older adults, together with nutritional assessment and individually tailored nutritional support for older adults with a positive screening test. Nutritional support includes offering individualised nutritional advice and counselling; oral nutritional supplements; fortified foods; and enteral or parenteral nutrition as required. However, in clinical practice, the incorporation of nutritional guidelines is inadequate and low-value care is commonplace. This Review discusses the current evidence on identification and treatment of malnutrition in older adults, identifies gaps between evidence and practice in clinical care, and offers practical strategies to translate evidence-based knowledge into improved nutritional care. We also provide an overview of the prevalence, causes, and risk factors of malnutrition in older adults across health-care settings.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02612-5