Impact of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation nutrition team on evaluating sarcopenia, cachexia and practice of rehabilitation nutrition

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine whether the presence of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation nutrition team affects sarcopenia and cachexia evaluation and practice of rehabilitation nutrition. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using online questionnaire among members of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Nutrition (JARN) was conducted. Questions were related to sarcopenia and cachexia evaluation and practice of rehabilitation nutrition. RESULTS: 677 (14.7%) questionnaires were analysed. 44.5% reported that their institution employed a rehabilitation nutrition team, 20.2% conducted rehabilitation nutrition rounds and 26.1% conducted rehabilitation nutrition meetings. A total of 51.7%, 69.7%, 69.0% and 17.8% measured muscle mass, muscle strength, physical function and cachexia, respectively. For those with a rehabilitation nutrition team, 63.5%, 80.7%, 82.4% and 22.9% measured muscle mass, muscle strength, physical function and cachexia, respectively, whereas 46.7%, 78.0% and 78.1% of the respondents reported implementation of nutrition planning strategies in consideration of energy accumulation, rehabilitation training in consideration of nutritional status and use of dietary supplements, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the use of a rehabilitation nutrition team independently affected sarcopenia evaluation and practice of rehabilitation nutrition but not cachexia evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation nutrition team increased the frequency of sarcopenia evaluation and practice of rehabilitation nutrition. J. Med. Invest. 64: 140-145, February, 2017.