Elderly Hospital Patients Not Well Fed

In a two-year study Australian researchers discovered that 58 percent of hospital patients over the age of 65 had problems eating.

University of Adelaide researchers found 31 percent left more than two-thirds of their meal and only 15 percent had eaten it all.

Co-authors Chenfan Xia and Helen McCutcheon said 50 percent of the patients had problems opening food, while 36 percent found it difficult to use cutlery and 32 percent had trouble adding seasoning.

Interruptions were also frequent. More than half of the patients had mealtimes interrupted by staff — 92 percent by nurses and 19 percent by doctors.

The nutritional status of 60 percent of all older patients will deteriorate further while they are in hospital, with those who were malnourished in the first place suffering worst, and insufficient food is regarded as a major cause of the problem, said Xia.

This is an important issue, especially with a growing elderly population, because poor nutrition and malnourishment is linked to poor health, slow recovery and longer hospital stays.

The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.