Development of a Desire to Eat Scale for Nutritional Assessment in Elderly Inpatients at an Acute Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To examine the utility of a Desire to Eat (DETEA) scale as a tool for nutritional assessment in elderly inpatients at an acute hospital.
Subjects and Methods: The study included 116 elderly patients (mean age, 84.5 ± 7.0 years) who were admitted to an acute geriatric hospital and who received nutritional intervention from a nutritional support team (NST). The desire to eat in these patients was assessed before and after the nutritional intervention, using a DETEA questionnaire and was graded in a 4-point scale. The correlations between DETEA scores and nutrition-related indices (total energy intake, body mass index [BMI], and serum albumin and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels) were assessed before the intervention. Additionally, the correlations between changes in the DETEA score and nutrition-related indices were assessed after the nutritional intervention.
Results: Both DETEA scores and serum albumin levels increased after the intervention by the NST. A significant correlation was observed between the changes in the DETEA score and serum albumin level after the intervention. Patients with a high DETEA score before the intervention had a high total energy intake and BMI at the end of the intervention.
Multiple regression analysis showed that the increase in the serum albumin level was independently associated with the increase in the DETEA score and BMI, and the decrease in the CRP level.
Conclusion: The DETEA score was associated with nutrition-related indices before and after the intervention by the NST. The DETEA scale is an important tool for nutritional assessment in elderly inpatients at an acute geriatric hospital.