The Longitudinal Effects of Low Body Mass Index on Unfavorable Physical Health Outcomes Among Older Adults Receiving Homecare Nursing: A Prospective Cohort Study.
Lisako Kato, Sameh Eltaybani, Masumi Shinohara and 5 others
PMID 40423666WHAT IT FOUND
Older homecare nursing clients with BMI under 20 were more likely to have unfavorable physical health outcomes at 1, 3, and 6 months than clients with BMI 20 or higher.
These outcomes included pressure sores, falls, infections, dehydration, pain, and breathing problems.
Key findings
01Low BMI at baseline was associated with higher outcome rates at 1, 3, and 6 months.
02The seven unfavorable outcomes counted were urinary tract infection, respiratory infection, pressure ulcers or skin tears, poor dyspnea control, poor pain control, dehydration, and traumatic falls in the past 30 days.
03The analysis included 660 clients, and 291 of them had low BMI, defined as under 20 kg/m2.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used data collected for another project. It did not include muscle mass, dietary intake, number of diseases, or medicines. Homecare nurses reported the outcomes and client information. Underreporting or reporting bias is possible. A large proportion of clients had missing baseline BMI data and were excluded. The paper reports 41.1% missing BMI data. Dropout increased over follow-up. The paper reports 11, 56, and 116 clients dropped out at 1, 3, and 6 months. This may have involved death, hospitalization, or pandemic effects. The outcome count treats pressure ulcers, falls, infections, dehydration, pain, and breathing problems as equal. Their severity can differ. BMI does not capture body composition, physical activity, or eating behaviors.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The VENUS project was supported by a Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare grant, and the manuscript was partially supported by the Tokyo Computer Service Scholarship Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that low BMI causes unfavorable outcomes. The study was observational, the outcomes were nurse-reported, and key factors such as muscle mass and dietary intake were not measured.