Posthospitalization meal delivery boosts outcomes for older adults

Posthospitalization home-delivered meals for older adults with and without heart failure is associated with lower 30-day rehospitalization and mortality, according to a study published online June 25 in JAMA Health Forum.

Huong Q. Nguyen, Ph.D., R.N., from Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, and colleagues assessed the impact of a four-week posthospitalization home-delivered meals benefit with the composite outcome of 30-day rehospitalization and death in members of Medicare Advantage. Analysis included 4,032 older adults with hospital admission for heart failure and 7,944 with non-heart failure admission.

The researchers found that the unadjusted rates of 30-day death and rehospitalization for the meals, no meals-2019, and no meals-2021/2022 cohorts of heart failure patients were 23.3, 30.1, and 38.5 percent, respectively; for non-heart failure patients, the corresponding values were 16.5, 22.4, and 32.9 percent. Among patients with heart failure, receipt of meals was significantly associated with lower odds of 30-day death and rehospitalization compared with the no meals-2021/2022 cohort (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.43 to 0.71), but this difference was not significant compared to the no meals-2019 cohort (OR, 0.86; 95 percent CI, 0.72 to 1.04). For patients without heart failure, receipt to meals was associated with significantly lower odds of 30-day death and rehospitalization.

"Provision of nutritional support after hospitalization may improve outcomes in older adults," the authors write.

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