A new American study draws up an alarming report on the state of health of elderly subjects arriving at the emergency room, who suffer from malnutrition without knowing.
“Malnutrition is known to be a common problem among the elderly, explains Timothy F. Platts-Mills, co-author of the study, what is more surprising in our study is that most malnourished patients have never been diagnosed before. »
To arrive at such results, researchers at the University of North Carolina studied the state of health of 138 adults aged 65 and over arriving at the service of emergency roomand generally living alone without medical help.
After medical and behavioral examination (via a questionnaire on the habits of the patient), it turned out that 16% of the elderly people examined were in a state of malnutrition. And among them, 77% had never received this diagnosis before.
Of the 138 people, 60% were also assessed at risk of malnutrition.
Thus, only 24% of the elderly presented to the emergency room were well nourished.
No incidence of age, gender or social background reflected a prevalence of malnutrition; on the other hand, the scientists observed that malnutrition was more prevalent in patients with a loss of autonomy, presenting symptoms of depression, mobility or difficulty eating.
Nutritional surveillance to be developed
The researchers therefore call on emergency physicians to act accordingly when caring for the elderly: make a diagnosis if necessary and initiate follow-up nutritional.
“Older adults make more than 20 million emergency room visits a year in the United States, says Timothey Platts-Mills, our study demonstrates the importance of developing the capacity of emergency departments to meet the unmet needs of older people. Implementing nutritional supplementation would be inexpensive and would reduce readmissions for these patients. »
Sources:
-Malnutrition among Cognitively Intact, Noncritically Ill Older Adults in the Emergency Department, Annals of Emergency Medicine, published August 12, 2014
–Many older emergency department patients are malnourishedEurekalert
–Why seniors don’t eat: It’s complicatedEurekalert
