Malnutrition is prominent in convalescent rehabilitation（CR）setting. This study aimed to investigate whether meal provided at our hospital was nutritionally suitable for CR patients or not. In 142 patients in our CR ward with motor score on the Functional Independent Measure（FIM）>40, average intakes of energy and protein for 2 weeks after admission were calculated and divided by ideal body weight （IBW） , which were E（Average energy intake,kcal/kg/day）and P（Average protein intake,g/kg/day）, respectively. FIM efficiency in each patient was calculated as the indicator of rehabilitation effect. According to body mass index （BMI）at admission, the patients were divided into underweight group（UW）, normal weight group（NW）, and overweight group（OW）.Each group was subdivided into decrease group（D）with body weight（BW）decrease rate during the 2-week period after admission > 1.5％and non-decrease group（ND）with the rest, creating 6 subgroups. UW-D consisted of elder patients compared to the other groups. E and P were significantly higher in OW-ND than the other groups, while FIM efficiency in NW-ND was highest among 6 groups. Bringing BW close to IBW by constructive nutrition management would result in effective CR. Especially, nutrition management for elder patients would be important in CR.

View full abstract