Abstract:
The elderly make up an ever-increasing portion of our population. Unfortunately, there are many physiological disadvantages that accompany aging, such as undernutrition, which is a reality in the elderly. In fact, elderly "hospitalized patients recovering from femoral neck -fractures were found to be eating less than `BOG of nutrient requirements of protein, calcium, and vitamins, especially vitamin D, in spite of adequate food being offered them." Consequently, a major source of morbidity and mortality in the elderly are fractures of the proximal end of the femur. However, the exact reason for this is unexplained.i The possibility of a correlation between inadequate nutrition in the elderly and the excess mortality in elderly hip fracture patients needs to be explored. Very little research has been done to discover the magnitude and implications of this probable relationship. Does immediate post-operative feeding improve the outcome for elderly patients with hip fractures requiring surgery? This research proposes to study that question, to examine the effect of immediate post--operative artificial enteral feeding on the subsequent outcome of elderly hip fracture patients.
