Frailty and Nutrition Risk Predict Falls and Emergency Department Visits in Home-Delivered Meal Clients

Abstract

Home-delivered meal programs improve health outcomes for older adults who are homebound, yet some clients need additional services and support to maintain independence. This study sought to identify program clients at the highest risk for adverse outcomes. Nutrition risk and Frailty Index scores were used to predict client-reported falls, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations over a six-month period for 258 Meals on Wheels clients in one Midwestern community. A multivariate binomial logistic regression model adjusting for both Frailty Index and nutrition risk scores with age, gender, poverty, and race accounted for 13.2% of the variation in falls and 22% of the variation in emergency department visits. Neither study variable was predictive of hospitalizations. Nutrition risk and Frailty Index scores, together, produced a more robust picture of client risk than with either score alone; these tools could be used by service providers to prioritize additional support services.

Keywords:

• Emergency department utilization
• falls
• Frailty Index
• home-delivered meals
• nutrition risk
• Meals on Wheels

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Ypsilanti MOW staff for their support and time.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.