NutOrMed—optimising nutrition, oral health and medication for older home care clients—study protocol

Abstract

Malnutrition, polypharmacy and poor oral health are major concerns among older people living at home, and they contribute to disability and care dependency. This article describes the study protocol of the Nutrition, Oral Health and Medication (NutOrMed) intervention study. This study was a population-based multidisciplinary intervention study. The NutOrMed study sample included home care clients aged 75 years or over living in Eastern and Central Finland. All the participants (n = 275) were interviewed at home at the baseline and after a 6-month intervention. The primary outcomes are nutritional status, oral health status and factors associated with them. These measures were administered at the baseline and after a 6-month follow-up. Agreement between in-home interviews and electronic medical records regarding drug use was checked at the baseline. Our study provides evidence about factors associated with nutrition, oral health and medication that may compromise the ability to stay at home. The strengths of this study are its multidisciplinary approach, the diversity of the measures, including interviews and clinical examinations, and the multi-interventions targeting those in need. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02214758