Malnutrition often occurs in patients with disabilities. The prevalence of malnutrition in geriatric rehabilitation was higher than in hospital (50.5% vs 38.7%) according to MNA classification. Nutrition care management of patients with disabilities is often inappropriate. As nutritional status is associated with rehabilitation outcome, a combination of both rehabilitation and nutrition care management may be associated with a better outcome. This concept is defined as rehabilitation nutrition. Rehabilitation nutrition aims to assess patients according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health including nutrition status and to practice a rehabilitation nutrition care plan under adequate prognosis prediction. It is not enough for patients with disabilities to coordinate only their rehabilitation or clinical nutrition. Rehabilitation nutrition care management is important to improve their activities of daily living and quality of life. Sarcopenia is a syndrome characterized by progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. Primary sarcopenia is considered to be age-related when no other cause is evident, other than ageing itself. Secondary sarcopenia should be considered when one or more other causes are evident, such as activity-related sarcopenia, disease-related sarcopenia, or nutrition-related sarcopenia. Activity-related sarcopenia can result from bed rest, deconditioning, or zero-gravity conditions. Disease-related sarcopenia is associated with invasion (acute inflammatory diseases), cachexia (cancer, advanced organ failure, collagen diseases, etc.), and neuromuscular disease. Nutrition-related sarcopenia results from inadequate dietary intake of energy and/or protein. Treatment, including rehabilitation and nutrition care management, differs according to the causes of sarcopenia. No nutrition care, no rehabilitation. Nutrition is a vital sign for rehabilitation.

Background: To determine whether nutrition is associated with rehabilitation outcome in the disuse syndrome.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in 223 inpatients admitted to a university hospital who were diagnosed by physicians in the rehabilitation department as having the disuse syndrome, and subsequently prescribed physical therapy. Malnutrition was defined as a body mass index<18.5 kg/m², hemoglobin level<10.0 g/dl, serum albumin level<3.0 g/dl, or total lymphocyte count<1200 cells/mm³. Rehabilitation outcome was defined as whether or not the ADL score improved during rehabilitation. Nutritional status was assessed at referral using the Onodera's prognostic nutritional index (PNI).
Results: The study cohort included 136 men and 87 women (mean age 67.5 years; median duration between admission and referral 17 days; median rehabilitation duration 32 days). A total of 202 patients (91%) were defined as being malnourished. Mean PNI was 32.9, with the ADL score improving in 135 patients (61%) during rehabilitation. Rehabilitation outcome was better in patients with normal nutrition compared to malnourished patients (relative risk: 0.72, p=0.04). Patients with a hemoglobin level>10.0 g/dl (relative risk: 0.69, p=0.001), total lymphocyte count>1200 cells/mm³ (relative risk: 0.78, p=0.03), or PNI>35.0 (relative risk: 0.74, p=0.01) had a better rehabilitation outcome. Logistic regression analysis showed that hemoglobin level was associated independently with rehabilitation outcome (odds ratio 2.34, p=0.005).
Conclusions: Malnutrition is common in patients with the disuse syndrome. Patients with low hemoglobin level and PNI at referral are more likely to have a poor rehabilitation outcome.

Objective: To develop a weighted disuse risk score rating. Design : Based on specified selection criteria, items of the disuse risk factor were chosen. Then, a conjoint questionnaire for physicians was created using orthogonal cards with ordinal disuse risk grade. Conjoint analysis (SPSS 15.0) was performed, weighting each item and making a formula for calculating the disuse risk score. Setting : The Rehabilitation Department of a University Hospital. Participants : Forty-one physician respondents and 129 consecutive inpatients referred to the rehabilitation department. Main outcome measures : Agreement of the rated disuse risk grade with the calculated disuse risk score, and the reliability of the calculated disuse risk score of the 129 inpatients. Results : Eleven disuse risk factor items were selected ; age, malignant tumor, heart impairment, respiratory impairment, kidney impairment, pain, gait disorder, psychiatric impairment, intellectual disability, dementia, and body mass index. Forty-one physicians completed and returned a postal questionnaire. Cronbach's a of the rated disuse risk grade was 0.948. The correlation coefficient of the average rated disuse risk grade to the calculated disuse risk score was 0.985 (p=0.000). Items of high overall importance (%) were gait disorder (14.0%), malignant tumor (11.5%), and respiratory impairment (11.0%). Those of low overall importance (%) were body mass index (6.8%), kidney impairment (6.6%), and psychiatric impairment (6.1%). For the 129 patients, the calculated disuse risk score of the 11-item was correlated to that of the 9-item weighted disuse risk factor (R=0.930, p=0.000). Conclusions : Both the 11-item disuse risk factor and the weighted disuse risk score rating were considered reliable and useful.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze whether sufficient energy intake (EI) improves performance of activities of daily living (ADL) in patients with hip fracture admitted to rehabilitation hospitals. The adequate amount of EI for improving performance of ADL in patients with hip fracture remains unknown. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included all patients with hip fracture (n=234) admitted to rehabilitation hospitals in Japan. The inclusion criteria for this study were age >65 years and body mass index <30.0 kg/m². Patients who were transferred to an acute hospital and those with missing case data were excluded. According to the amount of EI, the patients were classified into energy sufficiency and shortage groups (EI/total energy expenditure ≥1.0 and <1.0, respectively). The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and FIM gain were used to evaluate the patient disability level and change in patient status in response to rehabilitation. Finally, FIM gain was calculated as the discharge FIM score minus the admission FIM score. RESULTS: The final analysis targeted 202 patients—53 (26.2%) were in the energy shortage group and 149 (73.8%) were in the energy sufficiency group. The energy sufficiency group had a greater FIM gain than the energy shortage group (mean, 25.1±14.2 vs. 19.7±16.4; p=0.024). Furthermore, sufficient EI in the first week since admission (β=0.165; 95% confidence interval, 0.392–5.230; p=0.023) was an independent factor of FIM gain. CONCLUSION: Among elderly patients with hip fracture admitted to rehabilitation hospitals in Japan, the amount of EI during the first week after admission was an independent factor of FIM gain.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Cohort Studies ; Energy Intake ; Energy Metabolism ; Femoral Fractures ; Hip ; Humans ; Japan ; Nutritional Support ; Recovery of Function ; Rehabilitation ; Retrospective Studies

Sarcopenic dysphagia is characterized by weakness of swallowing-related muscles associated with whole-body sarcopenia. As the number of patients with sarcopenia increases with the aging of the world, the number of patients with sarcopenic dysphagia is also increasing. The prevalence of sarcopenic dysphagia is high in the institutionalized older people and in patients hospitalized for pneumonia with dysphagia in acute care hospitals. Prevention, early detection and intervention of sarcopenic dysphagia with rehabilitation nutrition are essential. The diagnosis of sarcopenic dysphagia is based on skeletal and swallowing muscle strength and muscle mass. A reliable and validated diagnostic algorithm for sarcopenic dysphagia is used. Sarcopenic dysphagia is associated with malnutrition, which leads to mortality and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) decline. The rehabilitation nutrition approach improves swallowing function, nutrition status, and ADL. A combination of aggressive nutrition therapy to improve nutrition status, dysphagia rehabilitation, physical therapy, and other interventions can be effective for sarcopenic dysphagia. The rehabilitation nutrition care process is used to assess and problem solve the patient’s pathology, sarcopenia, and nutrition status. The simplified rehabilitation nutrition care process consists of a nutrition cycle and a rehabilitation cycle, each with five steps: assessment, diagnosis, goal setting, intervention, and monitoring. Nutrition professionals and teams implement the nutrition cycle. Rehabilitation professionals and teams implement the rehabilitation cycle. Both cycles should be done simultaneously. The nutrition diagnosis of undernutrition, overnutrition/obesity, sarcopenia, and goal setting of rehabilitation and body weight are implemented collaboratively.

Objective: Dysphagia rehabilitation is an important area in geriatric nutrition due to the commonality of sarcopenic dysphagia in older adults. However, there have been no reports on the efficacy of treatment by board-certified physiatrists (BCP) in patients with sarcopenic dysphagia. This study therefore aimed to investigate whether intervention by board-certified physiatrists affects the functional prognosis of patients with sarcopenic dysphagia.Materials and Methods: Of 467 patients enrolled in the Japanese Sarcopenic Dysphagia database between November 2019 and March 2021, 433 met the study eligibility criteria. The patients were divided into two groups based on whether or not they received intervention by a BCP. The clinical characteristics and outcomes of the two groups were compared. Statistical analyses were performed by inverse probability weighting (IPW).Results: BCPs were involved in the management of 57.0% of patients with sarcopenic dysphagia. These patients had a significantly higher increase in the Barthel index both before and after IPW correction than those not managed by a BCP (P=0.001 and P=0.016, respectively). However, sarcopenic dysphagia significantly improved in the non-BCP group before IPW correction (P<0.001), although there was no significant difference after IPW correction (P=0.301).Conclusion: BCP management was significantly associated with higher activities of daily living (ADL), but not with an improvement in sarcopenic dysphagia. To provide and manage effective rehabilitation, it is necessary to familiarize patients with the management and training of sarcopenic dysphagia rehabilitation for BCP in order to cope in regions with few rehabilitation units.