Oral nutritional support of older (65 years+) medical and surgical patients after discharge from hospital: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Abstract
Objective To estimate the effectiveness of oral nutritional support compared to placebo or usual care in improving clinical outcome in older (65 years+) medical and surgical patients after discharge from hospital. Outcome goals were: re-admissions, survival, nutritional and functional status, quality of life and morbidity. Data sources Three recent Cochrane reviews and an update of their literature search using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science. Search terms included randomized controlled trials; humans; age 65+ years; subset: dietary supplements. Review methods One reviewer assessed trials for inclusion, extracted data and assessed trial quality. Results Six trials were included (N = 716 randomly assigned participants). All trials used oral nutritional supplements. A positive effect on nutritional intake (energy) and/or nutritional status (weight) (in compliant participants) were observed in all trials. Two pooled analysis was based on a fixed-effects model. No significant effect were found on mortality (four randomized controlled trials with 532 participants, odds ratio 0.80 (95% confidence (CI) interval 0.46 to 1.39)) or re-admissions (four randomized controlled trials with 478 participants, odds ratio 1.07 (95% CI 0.71 to 1.61)). Conclusion Although the evidence is limited, we suggest that oral nutritional support may be considered for older malnourished medical and surgical patients after discharge from hospital.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Systematic reviews found evidence for improved body weight and nutritional status in older patients after discharge either with individualized nutritional support or intervention with ONS.
“Systematic reviews found evidence for improved body weight and nutritional status in older patients after discharge either with individualized nutritional support [113] or intervention with ONS [114].”
From ESPEN guideline on nutritional support for polymorbid medical inpatients (2023) · cites this paper as [114]
One systematic literature review focusing on the time after hospital discharge included six trials and found evidence for increased dietary intake and body weight with ONS, but not concerning mortality or readmission risk.
“One SLR focusing on the time following hospital discharge (116) included six trials and found evidence for increased dietary intake and BW with ONS, but not concerning mortality or readmission risk.”
From ESPEN practical guideline: Clinical nutrition and hydration in geriatrics (2022) · cites this paper as [116]
Positive effects of ONS on dietary intake and body weight, and reduced risk of complications and readmissions were reported, whereas length of hospital stay and mortality risk were not significantly reduced.
“Altogether, positive effects of ONS on dietary intake (115, 116, 119, 121) and BW (115, 116, 119, 121), and reduced risk of complications (121) and readmissions (115, 120, 121) were reported, whereas the length of hospital stay (114, 115, 121) and mortality risk (114-116, 119, 121) were not significantly reduced.”
From ESPEN practical guideline: Clinical nutrition and hydration in geriatrics (2022) · cites this paper as [116]
A systematic literature search found six high-quality SLRs that have assessed the efficacy of ONS versus usual care in older persons.
“A systematic literature search found six high-quality SLRs that have assessed the efficacy of ONS versus usual care in older persons (114-121).”
From ESPEN practical guideline: Clinical nutrition and hydration in geriatrics (2022) · cites this paper as [116]
Cites
The Biology of Human Starvation: Volume I
KEYS, A., BROŽEK, J., HENSCHEL, A., MICKELSEN, O., & TAYLOR, H. L. (1950) · doi:10.5749/j.ctv9b2tqv · Cited by 2,039 · see citing works
Protein and energy supplementation in elderly people at risk from malnutrition
Milne, A. C., Potter, J., Vivanti, A., & Avenell, A. (2009) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd003288.pub3 · Cited by 849 · see citing works
Tidermark, J., Ponzer, S., Carlsson, P., Söderqvist, A., Brismar, K., Tengstrand, B., & Cederholm, T. (2004) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2003.10.006 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Feldblum, I., German, L., Castel, H., Harman‐Boehm, I., & Shahar, D. R. (2011) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03174.x · Cited by 127 · see citing works
WOO, J., HO, S. C., MAK, Y. T., LAW, L. K., & CHEUNG, A. (1994) · Age and Ageing · doi:10.1093/ageing/23.1.40 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Neelemaat, F., Bosmans, J. E., Thijs, A., Seidell, J. C., & van Bokhorst-de van der Schueren, M. A. E. (2011) · Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2010.12.005 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Nutritional supplementation and dietary advice in geriatric patients at risk of malnutrition
Persson, M., Hytter-Landahl, Å., Brismar, K., & Cederholm, T. (2007) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2006.12.002 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
ESPEN practical guideline: Clinical nutrition and hydration in geriatrics
Volkert, D., Beck, A. M., Cederholm, T., Cruz-Jentoft, A., Hooper, L., Kiesswetter, E., Maggio, M., Raynaud-Simon, A., Sieber, C., Sobotka, L., et al. (2022) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2022.01.024 · Cited by 516 · see citing works
Self-citationDeutz, N. E., Matheson, E. M., Matarese, L. E., Luo, M., Baggs, G. E., Nelson, J. L., Hegazi, R. A., Tappenden, K. A., & Ziegler, T. R. (2016) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2015.12.010 · Cited by 472 · see citing works
ESPEN guidelines on nutritional support for polymorbid internal medicine patients
Gomes, F., Schuetz, P., Bounoure, L., Austin, P., Ballesteros-Pomar, M., Cederholm, T., Fletcher, J., Laviano, A., Norman, K., Poulia, K.-A., et al. (2018) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2017.06.025 · Cited by 363 · see citing works
Stratton, R. J., Hébuterne, X., & Elia, M. (2013) · Ageing Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.arr.2013.07.002 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
ESPEN guideline on nutritional support for polymorbid medical inpatients
Wunderle, C., Gomes, F., Schuetz, P., Stumpf, F., Austin, P., Ballesteros-Pomar, M. D., Cederholm, T., Fletcher, J., Laviano, A., Norman, K., et al. (2023) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2023.06.023 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“Systematic reviews found evidence for improved body weight and nutritional status in older patients after discharge either with individualized nutritional support [113] or intervention with ONS [114].”
Nutritional follow-Up after discharge prevents readmission to hospital – a randomized clinical trial
Lindegaard Pedersen, J., Pedersen, P. U., & Damsgaard, E. M. (2017) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-016-0745-7 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Pedersen, J. L., Pedersen, P. U., & Damsgaard, E. M. (2016) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-015-0629-2 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Neelemaat, F., van Keeken, S., Langius, J. A. E., de van der Schueren, M. A. E., Thijs, A., & Bosmans, J. E. (2017) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-017-0939-7 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
- Authors
- Beck, A. M., Holst, M., & Rasmussen, H. H.
- Affiliations
- Herlev Hospital (DK)
- Aalborg University Hospital (DK)
- Venue
- Clinical Rehabilitation
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-05-29
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-27
- ISSN
- 0269-2155 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-0873
- OpenAlex
- W2109730196
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 10
- FWCI
- 0.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Rehabilitation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VBN Forskningsportal (Aalborg Universitet) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Clinical Nutrition and Gastroenterology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Speech and Hearing › Dysphagia Assessment and Management
- Keywords
- oral nutritional support, older adults, post-discharge care, malnutrition, dietary supplements, hospital readmission, mortality, nutritional status, weight gain, quality of life, functional status, medical patients, surgical patients
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Enteral Nutrition, Humans, Patient Discharge, Surgical Procedures, Operative, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Nutritional Support
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
