Nutritional Supplements May Help Prevent Hospital Readmission

A recent health study examines the nutritional and economic benefits of oral nutritional supplements.

According to research that will be presented by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) annual congress in Leipzig, Germany, the meeting will discuss clinical nutrition regarding participants from over 80 countries.

This particular study analyzed over 1 million adult inpatient cases from the United States and found that patients who were provided with oral nutritional supplements when hospitalized were 21 percent more likely to reduce their stay and 21.6 percent more likely to reduce the cost during the stay.

The study also showed that there was a 6.7 percent reduction in a 30-day readmission to the hospital if patients were regularly taking nutritional supplements.

"Patients identified as having nutritional deficiencies often face a longer and more difficult recovery process, resulting in higher health care costs and an increase in complication rates," Marinos Elia, MD, BSc Hon, FRCP, Professor of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism at University of Southampton said, via a press release. "Research demonstrates that oral nutritional supplementation can lead to highly positive economic benefits and improved patient outcomes."

Researchers specifically looked at the differences between the length of stay and costs by comparing hospital visits and oral nutritional supplements that patients were prescribed or had been regularly taking.

"Because oral nutritional supplements are formulated to provide advanced nutrition and calories for patients and are relatively inexpensive to provide, the sizeable savings they generate make supplementation a cost-effective therapy," study co-author, Tomas Philipson Ph.D., Daniel Levin Chair of Public Policy at the University of Chicago said, via a press release.

"In today's outcome conscious hospital environment, Abbott is committed to delivering products that improve the quality of care for patients and also help reduce health care costs," Robert H. Miller, Ph.D., divisional vice president, Global R&D and Scientific Affairs for Abbott Nutrition said, via the release. "In addition to the numerous retrospective studies focused on health economics and outcomes research in our pipeline, nearly all of our clinical research studies now include an economic analysis to help demonstrate a nutritional therapy's total value proposition."

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More information regarding the study can be found via the American Journal of Managed Care.