PEU in Elderly TCU Residents

Completed

Conditions studied: Aging

In brief

Background: There is tremendous controversy regarding the adequacy/effectiveness of the nutritional care provided in VA Transitional Care Units (TCUs). The interrelationship between concurrent inflammatory disease, the adequacy of a resident's nutrient consumption, the development or resolution of putative nutritional deficits, and clinical outcomes is not established. Given the known obstacles to increasing nutrient intake (e.g. cost, resident acceptance, associated morbidity) and the lack of proven effectiveness of all forms of nutrition support and nutritional supplementation to improve clinical outcomes, a better understanding of these interrelationships is needed and will be the focus of this study. Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to determine how best to define nutritional risk (i.e., risk for adverse clinical outcomes due to inadequate nutrient intake) among older VA TCU residents. As part of this objective, we will seek to develop a better understanding of the interrelationship between nutrient intake, weight change, serum concentration of albumins, health status/illness severity, and mortality. The secondary objective is to develop a prediction model for identifying which TCU residents are likely to have ongoing problems with low nutrient intake. The ultimate objective is to develop a clinically useful system to identify residents who are likely to benefit from specific interventions aimed at improving nutritional risk.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT00242684
Run by
US Department of Veterans Affairs
People needed
446
Starts
2006-03-01
Expected to finish
2012-04-01
Last updated by the study team
2015-04-24

Who can join

Age: 64 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

You may not qualify if…

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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