The Role of Nutrition to Reduce Medical Care Costs
Project Description
We commissioned a post-doctoral student at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign to conduct a systematic review of studies that demonstrated a link between nutritional support and improved health economic outcomes. After analysis of the studies that met the inclusion criteria covering a ten-year period we wrote up the findings to identify research gaps and suggest future work. Our aim was to build the scientific evidence that demonstrates how nutritional interventions can to reduce medical care costs and improve health outcomes.
Why do this Project?
There is a growing body of research demonstrating that nutritional interventions can both improve the health outcomes for a patient and lead to reduced medical care expenditure. Health economists are using a variety of tools to quantitatively measure the economic benefits of such interventions. We wanted to assess the types of studies conducted to support work that our company was doing in nutrition economics. We wanted to evaluate studies demonstrating how nutritional interventions can provide support for better health and whether these were cost effective.
Why is this Important?
Research shows malnutrition in hospitals can range from 20 – 50% (see graph below). This is worse among the elderly and even occurs in developed countries like Singapore and the Netherlands. Often at discharge from hospital, the data shows some patient’s nutritional state has worsened considerably during their hospital stay. A simple nutritional intervention like supplementation can help provide additional health benefits at low cost. This review sought to measure such interventions in terms of cost and outcomes.
The Consequences of Malnutrition
There is strong evidence that malnutrition can cause a range of negative health and economic outcomes. They are listed below (table):
*QALY Quality Adjusted Life Year is a generic measure of disease burden includes both the quality and quantity of life lived it is used in economic evaluation of medical interventions to assess the value for money. One QALY equates to one year lived in good health.
Findings
The review showed that there is growing interest in implementing and measuring the effect of a health intervention based on nutritional support. The number of publications focused on the economics of nutritional interventions has increased significantly with studies demonstrating that a range of economic assessments are being used to measure the cost effectiveness of the interventions1
Key Message
As populations age, policies need to encourage wider adoption of screening, assessment and treatment of malnutrition to improve health and economic outcomes. Research needs to find sustainable health solutions based on nutrition.
Publication link to pdf
References
- Health Care Costs Matters: A Review of Nutrition Economics - is there a role for nutritional support to reduce the cost of medical health care? JK Naberhuis, VN Hunt, JD Bell, JS Partridge, S Coates and MJC Nuijten, Nutrition and Dietary Supplements 2017:9 1-8
- Whitehead, SJ Ali S Health Outcomes in Economic Evaluation: The QALY and Utilities Br Med Bulletin 2010;96 (1): 5-21