Abstract
Malnutrition often occurs in the elderly. The department of Epidemiology of Maastricht University, in collaboration with the departments of Surgery, Orthopaedics and Dietetics of the Maastricht University Hospital, the Atrium Medical Centre and the Orbis Medical Centre, investigated the effects and costs of extra nutritional care in elderly with a hip fracture. During 3 months, the patients received intensive coaching by a dietician (10 contact moments), if necessary combined with fluid nutrition. This appeared to lead to an improvement of nutritional intake and nutritional state of the patients, but it had no effect on the duration of hospitalization or recovery care, nor on the number of complications or the functioning of the participants. The costs of this intensive nutritional care turned out remarkably low: average €600 per patient, which is only 3% of the total care costs per patient with a hip fracture (appr. € 23.000).
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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| Award date | 23 Nov 2012 |
| Place of Publication | Maastricht |
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| Print ISBNs | 9789461591777 |
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| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2012 |