Nutritional Intervention and Outcomes in Elderly After Hip Fracture Surgery

Hip fracture is one of the most frequently occurred injury in the elderly and usually requires surgical treatment. Malnutrition is common in elderly patients with hip fracture and is associated with worse outcomes. This study is designed to test the hypothesize that, in elderly patients with malnutrition or at risk of malnutrition and scheduled for hip-fracture surgery, perioperative nutritional intervention may reduce early complications and improve long-term survival.

Elderly patients with hip fracture have a high rate of malnutrition. In a cohort study of hip fracture patients aged 70 years or older, 18.8% have malnutrition and 44.6% are at risk of malnutrition. Increasing evidence suggest that preoperative nutritional status has a significant impact on clinical outcomes of elderly patients following surgery. For example, preoperative malnutrition or risk of malnutrition is associated with increased delirium, increased non-delirium complications, prolonged hospital stay, high mortality, and even worse long-term survival after surgery. We speculate that perioperative nutritional intervention may reduce postoperative delirium and improve early and long-term clinical outcomes in elderly hip-fracture patients. The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of perioperative nutritional intervention on early postoperative delirium and complications as well as long-term survival in the patients with malnutrition or at risk of malnutrition who are scheduled for hip-fracture surgery.