OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether a disease-specific nutritional approach is more beneficial than a standard dietary approach to the healing of pressure ulcers (PUs) in institutionalized elderly patients. DESIGN: Twelve-week follow-up randomized controlled trial (RCT). SETTING: Four long-term care facilities in the province of Como, Italy. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-eight elderly subjects with Stage II, III, and IV PUs of recent onset (<1-month history). INTERVENTION: All 28 patients received 30 kcal/kg per day nutritional support; of these, 15 received standard nutrition (hospital diet or standard enteral formula; 16% calories from protein), whereas 13 were administered a disease-specific nutrition treatment consisting of the standard diet plus a 400-mL oral supplement or specific enteral formula enriched with protein (20% of the total calories), arginine, zinc, and vitamin C (P<.001 for all nutrients vs control). MEASUREMENTS: Ulcer healing was evaluated using the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH; 0=complete healing, 17=greatest severity) tool and area measurement (mm2 and %). RESULTS: The sampled groups were well matched for age, sex, nutritional status, oral intake, type of feeding, and ulcer severity. After 12 weeks, both groups showed significant improvement (P<.001). The treatment produced a higher rate of healing, the PUSH score revealing a significant difference at Week 12 (-6.1±2.7 vs -3.3±2.4; P<.05) and the reduction in ulcer surface area significantly higher in the treated patients already by Week 8 (-1,140.9±669.2 mm 2 vs -571.7±391.3 mm2; P<.05 and ∼57% vs ∼33%; P<.02). CONCLUSION: The rate of PU healing appears to accelerate when a nutrition formula enriched with protein, arginine, zinc, and vitamin C is administered, making such a formula preferable to a standardized one, but the present data require further confirmation by high-quality RCTs conducted on a larger scale.

Disease-specific versus standard nutritional support for the treatment of pressure ulcers in institutionalised elderly : a randomized-controlled trial / E. Cereda, A. Gini, C. Pedrolli, A. Vanotti. - In: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY. - ISSN 0002-8614. - 57:8(2009 Jun 25), pp. 1395-1402.

Disease-specific versus standard nutritional support for the treatment of pressure ulcers in institutionalised elderly : a randomized-controlled trial

E. Cereda
Primo
;
2009

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether a disease-specific nutritional approach is more beneficial than a standard dietary approach to the healing of pressure ulcers (PUs) in institutionalized elderly patients. DESIGN: Twelve-week follow-up randomized controlled trial (RCT). SETTING: Four long-term care facilities in the province of Como, Italy. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-eight elderly subjects with Stage II, III, and IV PUs of recent onset (<1-month history). INTERVENTION: All 28 patients received 30 kcal/kg per day nutritional support; of these, 15 received standard nutrition (hospital diet or standard enteral formula; 16% calories from protein), whereas 13 were administered a disease-specific nutrition treatment consisting of the standard diet plus a 400-mL oral supplement or specific enteral formula enriched with protein (20% of the total calories), arginine, zinc, and vitamin C (P<.001 for all nutrients vs control). MEASUREMENTS: Ulcer healing was evaluated using the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH; 0=complete healing, 17=greatest severity) tool and area measurement (mm2 and %). RESULTS: The sampled groups were well matched for age, sex, nutritional status, oral intake, type of feeding, and ulcer severity. After 12 weeks, both groups showed significant improvement (P<.001). The treatment produced a higher rate of healing, the PUSH score revealing a significant difference at Week 12 (-6.1±2.7 vs -3.3±2.4; P<.05) and the reduction in ulcer surface area significantly higher in the treated patients already by Week 8 (-1,140.9±669.2 mm 2 vs -571.7±391.3 mm2; P<.05 and ∼57% vs ∼33%; P<.02). CONCLUSION: The rate of PU healing appears to accelerate when a nutrition formula enriched with protein, arginine, zinc, and vitamin C is administered, making such a formula preferable to a standardized one, but the present data require further confirmation by high-quality RCTs conducted on a larger scale.
Settore BIO/09 - Fisiologia
25-giu-2009
Article (author)
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
31. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2009 Aug;57(8)1395–1402.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Pre-print (manoscritto inviato all'editore)
Dimensione 119.45 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
119.45 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/67796
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 20
  • Scopus 118
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 82
social impact