Medically-tailored meals shown to reduce hospital readmittance for patients with congestive heart failure

04 Oct 2022 --- A new study may provide credibility to US President Joe Biden’s call for the expansion of Medicaid and Medicare to include medically-tailored-meals (MTM), as researchers tout its effectiveness in preventing further hospitalizations of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).

As part of the White House’s proposed “food is medicine” approach to healthcare, MTMs were proposed as a way to lower both individual healthcare costs as well as the burden placed on government programs.

Researchers have evaluated the data on an MTM intervention carried out by Grady Memorial Hospital and non-profit organization (NPO) Open Hand Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, US, and found a statistically significant number of patients were able to avoid being readmitted to the hospital when compared to patients who did not receive MTM treatment.

The poor will suffer more
The study included 39 patients and provided them with MTMs for 90 days following an initial hospitalization. The meals were low in sodium and saturated fats and consisted primarily of vegetables, poultry, fish and whole grains. The MTMs provided the patients with 1600 calories per day minus snacks and drinks.

The participants were between the ages of 37 and 92 years old and consisted of 14 women and 25 men, with an average of three hospital admissions within the previous 12 months. It compared their outcomes to 117 patients who were not treated with MTMs following hospitalization for CHF complications.

Elderly people living with food insecurity are 57% more likely to develop CHF.According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the prevalence of CHF in the US will increase by 46% from 2012 to 2030 and will cost the country an estimated US$69.8 billion in interventions, hospitalizations and medications. Furthermore, as CHF is commonly comorbid with diabetes, that number is expected to increase greatly.

Moreover, the disease has a greater prevalence in poorer communities, with one study finding that seniors suffering from food insecurity are 57% more likely to develop CHF. A significant number, when compared to Biden’s recent admission that 12.4 million households in the US are currently facing food insecurity.

Changing the status quo
The study reports that 25% of those who are hospitalized due to CHF will be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being released and 34.6% within 90 days.

Throughout the intervention, only eight of the participants, 20.5% of the cohort, were readmitted to the hospital for CHF complications, almost one-third less than those who received no intervention.

The researchers further noticed a decrease in body mass index (BMI) among those who received the intervention, from 30.3 to 28.1. Additionally, they noticed a five-point drop in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and a one-point drop in diastolic blood pressure (DBP).

Though the authors hold that this is not a statistically significant difference, it does represent a two-point greater SBP drop and a 1.2 greater decrease in BMI compared to patients with no intervention. However, patients without MTM treatment had a three-point greater drop in DBP.

By William Bradford Nichols

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