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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ucheoma O. Akobundu, MS and Nadine Sahyoun, PhD, RD. University of Maryland, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, 0112 Skinner Hall, College Park, MD 20742, (301) 405-0759, uakobund@umd.edu

Hospital-discharged older adults are at risk for poor dietary intake however, little is known about the food environment available upon discharge. Many seeking home delivered meal programs may wait several months to receive meals, past the critical 2-week-period following discharge - an important phase in the recovery process. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine relations between food groups available in the home, the timeliness of meal service initiation and social/health risk factors in hospital-discharged older adults. Staff at 6 home-delivered meal programs in 6 US states enrolled homebound adults post-hospital discharge into a 5-month nutrition intervention study. Based on discharge date, each was randomly assigned to an early (<2 days) or delayed (>-14 days) enrollment group. Participants (n=414) were administered in-home assessments to collect data on sociodemographic, nutrition, social, psychological, physical function and food group availability. Overall, many demonstrated nutrition risk factors (40% reported poor appetites; >60% expressed difficulty shopping or preparing meals; 41% were socially isolated). Up to 5% of households had foods in all groups in fair or poor condition. Poor self-reported health was associated with increased risk of social isolation (p<0.01) and the presence of depressive symptoms in both groups. More elders in the delayed group ate meals alone vs. early group participants (p<0.01). Poor oral health was associated with the presence of few grain and milk/cheese foods (p<0.04) among delayed group participants. These findings suggest that discharged older adults are at nutrition risk and may benefit from timely receipt of home delivered meals.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify three nutrition risk factors experienced by hospital-discharged older adults.
• Describe the home food environment of hospital discharged older adults.
• Articulate rationale for timely enrollment of older adults into home delivered meal programs.

Keywords: Elderly, Community Programs

Related Web page: www.connecttowellness.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No