Four in 10 Australian aged care residents are malnourished, a new study has revealed, prompting calls for a national screening program to identify those at highest risk.
The first large-scale study examining malnutrition in nursing homes found 40% of residents were malnourished, with 6% categorised as severely malnourished.
The results have prompted warnings from the authors, based at Monash and Griffith Universities, who argue insufficient processes to systematically detect nutritional status means many residents are not recognised as being malnourished and remain untreated.
A report by the 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety stated that the residential aged care sector had “failed to meet the nutritional needs of people for whom they care”. The Commission identified improving nutrition as a priority area.
“Malnutrition is associated with poorer overall health, increased hospitalisation rates, higher rates of falls and fractures, slower wound healing, higher infection risk, and accelerated mortality,” said lead author of the study, Dr Jonathan Foo, from Monash University’s Department of Physiotherapy.
“Despite such risks, aged care providers are not suitably resourced to perform routine screening using validated tools meaning many malnourished residents are likely to be undetected and therefore untreated.”
For more than 20 years, Australia’s aged care sector, responsible for over 190,000 individuals, has encountered substantial scrutiny regarding its handling of the malnutrition crisis.
The study recommends that regular screening “is crucial to identify those who need a full malnutrition assessment and intervention.”
“Our research group are currently working on implementing automated malnutrition screening and food-first malnutrition support pathways with our forward-thinking aged care partners,” Dr Foo said.
“The sector is already overwhelmed by all the requirements of providing care to ageing Australians, we need to focus on approaches that overcome challenges rather than burdening providers.”
