JAMDA
Volume 8, Issue 2 , Pages 110-114 , February 2007

Nutrition and Involuntary Weight Loss: A Pilot Study of an Educational Intervention for Nursing Home Surveyors

Portions of this work have been presented at meetings of the American Geriatrics Society, May 2004, and the Gerontological Society of America, November 2005.

  • Joan C. Chang, DO

      Affiliations

    • The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology, Baltimore, MD
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to Joan C. Chang, DO, Good Samaritan Hospital, Division of Geriatric Medicine, 5601 Loch Raven Boulevard, Suite 511, Baltimore, MD 21239-2995.
    • ,
  • Thomas E. Finucane, MD

      Affiliations

    • The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology, Baltimore, MD
    • ,
  • Colleen Christmas, MD

      Affiliations

    • The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology, Baltimore, MD
    • ,
  • William Vaughan, RN, BSN

      Affiliations

    • State of Maryland Office of Health Care Quality, Catonsville, MD
    • ,
  • Jack Schwartz, JD

      Affiliations

    • Maryland Attorney General’s Office, Baltimore, MD.
    • ,
  • Bruce Leff, MD

      Affiliations

    • The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology, Baltimore, MD
    • The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD

References 

  1. Spector WD, Drugovich ML. Reforming nursing home quality regulation (Impact on cited deficiencies and nursing home outcomes). Med Care. 1989;27:789–801
  2. Blaum CS, Fries BE, Fiatarone MA. Factors associated with low body mass index and weight loss in nursing home residents. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1995;50:M162–M168
  3. Aoyama L, Weintraub N, Reuben DB. Is weight loss in the nursing home a reversible problem?. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2006;7:S66–S72
  4. Thomas DR. Distinguishing starvation from cachexia. Clin Geriatr Med. 2002;18:883–891
  5. American Medical Directors Association. White paper on the survey process. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2006;7:120–123
  6. Concato J. Observational versus experimental studies: What’s the evidence for a hierarchy?. NeuroRx. 2004;1:341–347
  7. Concato J, Shah N, Horwitz RI. Randomized, controlled trials, observational studies, and the hierarchy of research designs. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:1887–1892
  8. Finucane TE, Christmas C, Travis K. Tube feeding in patients with advanced dementia: A review of the evidence. JAMA. 1999;282:1365–1370
  9. Zimmerman MD, Appadurai K, Scott JG, et al. Survival. Ann Intern Med. 1997;127:405–409
  10. Keys A, Brozek J, Henschel A, et al. The Biology of Human Starvation. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press; 1950;
  11. Evans WK, Nixon DW, Daly JM, et al. A randomized study of oral nutritional support versus ad lib nutritional intake during chemotherapy for advanced colorectal and non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol. 1987;5:113–124
  12. Baldwin C, Parsons TJ. Dietary advice and nutritional supplements in the management of illness-related malnutrition: Systematic review. Clin Nutr. 2004;23:1267–1279
  13. Thomas DR. Issues and dilemmas in the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers: A review. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;56:M328–M340
  14. Oster MH, Enders SR, Samuels SJ, et al. Megestrol acetate in patients with AIDS and cachexia. Ann Intern Med. 1994;121:400–408
  15. Von Roenn JH, Armstrong D, Kotler DP, et al. Megestrol acetate in patients with AIDS-related cachexia. Ann Intern Med. 1994;121:393–399
  16. Jatoi A, Kumar S, Sloan JA, Nguyen PL. On appetite and its loss. J Clin Oncol. 2000;18:2930–2932
  17. Meier DE, Ahronheim JC, Morris J, et al. High short-term mortality in hospitalized patients with advanced dementia: Lack of benefit of tube feeding. Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:594–599
  18. Callahan CM, Haag KM, Weinberger M, et al. Outcomes of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy among older adults in a community setting. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2000;48:1048–1054
  19. Walshe K, Harrington C. Regulation of nursing facilities in the United States: An analysis of resources and performance of state survey agencies. Gerontologist. 2002;42:475–487
  20. Simmons SF. Continuous quality improvement for nutritional care services in nursing homes: The importance of direct observation. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2006;7:61–62

 This study was supported by a grant from the Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging, Salt Lake City, UT.

PII: S1525-8610(06)00485-3

doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2006.09.010

JAMDA
Volume 8, Issue 2 , Pages 110-114 , February 2007

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