Nutrición en el anciano hospitalizado

Protein-caloric malnutrition is common in hospitalized elderly patients. The presence of this diagnosis affects clinical prognosis and consequently its detection and treatment are a priority. All hospitals should implement systematic malnutrition screening systems associated with a care plan. Useful strategies to improve nutritional status in the elderly are modifying the hospital diet by including meals with a high protein-caloric density, and the use of nutritional support measures such as oral or enteral supplementation and enteral and parenteral nutrition. Based on the available evidence, the present article reviews the benefits that can be expected from all these alternatives. Further, high-quality studies are required to answer questions on the effect of these measures on significant events such as functional capacity and quality of life. The evidence on specific diagnoses allows the advantages of each nutritional modality to be evaluated more precisely.