Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2014 Jul;18(7):649-53.
doi: 10.1007/s12603-014-0496-2.

Compliance of energy-dense, small volume oral nutritional supplements in the daily clinical practice on a geriatric ward--an observational study

K Lombard  1 , J van Steijn, T Schuur, M Kuhn, C Rouws, E-L Huinink, C van der Hooft, D van Asselt
Affiliations
Observational Study

Compliance of energy-dense, small volume oral nutritional supplements in the daily clinical practice on a geriatric ward--an observational study

K Lombard et al. J Nutr Health Aging. 2014 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Compliance is important in optimizing the clinical effectiveness of oral nutritional supplements (ONS). Small volume, energy-dense ONS (ED-ONS; ≥ 2 kcal/ml) have been shown to improve compliance in clinical trial settings. However, data from clinical practice is still lacking. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of ED-ONS on the compliance in an observational set-up to obtain data from daily clinical practice on a geriatric ward.

Methods: Geriatric inpatients, undernourished or at risk of undernutrition received two servings of either ED-ONS (125 ml, 2.4 kcal/ml: Nutridrink Compact Energy, Nutricia) or a standard ONS (S-ONS; 200 ml, 1.5 kcal/ml: Nutridrink) as part of their daily routine care. Patients were allocated to a group according to availability of beds and placement on the ward. Compliance (kcal/day and % of prescribed volume) was assessed by weighing returned bottles. Data were analyzed via Mixed Model for Repeated Measures.

Results: Forty-seven patients received ED-ONS, and 61 patients received S-ONS. Compliance was significantly higher with ED-ONS in geriatric inpatients compared to S-ONS ( 378 ± 14.0 kcal/day vs. 337 ± 13.6 kcal/day (mean ± SEM), p = 0.039, 63.0 ± 2.34% vs. 56.2 ± 2.26%, p = 0.039). Moreover, a trend (p=0.078) was observed towards an increasing difference in compliance over time.

Conclusion: This study shows that compliance to ED-ONS is significantly better than to S-ONS in daily clinical practice. Although small, the difference in compliance seems to increase over time, suggesting clinical relevance with longer treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patients flow chart
Figure 2
Figure 2
Compliance over time
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Meijers JMM, Halfens RJG, van Bokhorst-de van der Schueren MAE, Dassen T, Schols JMGA. Malnutrition in Dutch health care: Prevalence, prevention, treatment and quality indicators. Nutrition. 2009;25:512–519. 10.1016/j.nut.2008.11.004 PubMed PMID: 19135863. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McWhirter JP, Pennington CR. Incidence and recognition of malnutrition in hospital. BMJ. 1994;308:945–948. 10.1136/bmj.308.6934.945 PubMed PMCID 2539799; PMID 8173401. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stratton RJ, Elia M. A review of reviews: A new look at the evidence for oral nutritional supplements in clinical practice. Clin Nutr Supp. 2007;2:5–23. 10.1016/j.clnu.2007.04.004 - DOI
    1. Milne AC, Potter J, Vivanti A, Avenell A. Protein and energy supplementation in elderly people at risk from malnutrition (Review) The Cochrane Library. 2009 2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bauer J, Capra S, Battistutta D, Davidson W, Ash S. Compliance with nutrition prescription improves outcomes in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer. Clin Nutr. 2005;24:998–1004. 10.1016/j.clnu.2005.07.002 PubMed PMID: 16140426. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types