Clinical Nutrition Open Science · Published 2026-05-01 · DOI 10.1016/j.nutos.2026.100661
Background & Aims: Nutritional therapy for malnutrition such as high-protein intervention leads to better outcomes in inpatient hospital settings. The aim of the GERIKOM-study was to investigate whether standardised individualised nutrition therapy can reduce the incidence of adverse clinical events (ACE) in a nursing home setting. Methods: This cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) examined the composite endpoint incidence of at least one ACE (new occurrence/enlargement of decubiti, each 10% decline of Barthel-Index, new occurrence of falls, hospitalizations, or death) during 10 weeks of nutritional intervention in n=31 senior citizens. The intervention group (n=15) received individualized nutrition therapy e.g. high-caloric and/or high-protein diet, individual nutrition counselling and staff training whereas the control group (n=16) received general nutrition information. Changes in nutritional status and nursing effort were also determined, and serum albumin was measured. MNA-sf was used to screen for nutritional risk. Data was collected as baseline and after 10 weeks of intervention. Results: In the intervention group 6 participants, and in the control group 8 participants had at least one ACE during the 10-week nutritional intervention (P=0.722). Decreases in Barthel-Index occurred most frequently. New onset risk, of at least one ACE in the intervention group compared with the control group was OR=0.61 (95%CI: 0.14–2.71) in the age- and sex-adjusted model. Serum albumin levels did not change throughout the intervention (intervention group: pre: 41.0 g/L post: 40.2 g/L, P=0.175 and control group: pre: 39.5 g/L, post: 38.9 g/L P=0.289). Nursing effort increased in the control group, but not in the intervention group after 10 weeks nutrition intervention as estimated by calculated care level (intervention group: pre: 2.6, post: 2.7, P=0.336; control group: pre: 2.8, post: 3.1; P=0.040; respectively). A moderate inverse correlation between nutritional status according to MNA-sf at baseline and new occurrence of ACE was observed (r = -0.41, P=0.022). Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrated feasibility of nutrition therapy in a nursing home setting. Despite some tendencies, it did not demonstrate a statistically significant association between ten-week nutritional therapy and new occurrence of ACE in the nursing home. RCTs with larger sample size should follow-up this pilot. Trial registration: GERIKOM study was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register on 07/29/2022 and last revised on 11/05/2024. DRKS-ID DRKS00029656. URL: https://drks.de/register/de/trial/DRKS00029656/preview.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
Read the article at the publisher →