To investigate the effects of nutritional intervention with resistance training on skeletal muscle mass in elderly patients with disabilities in a convalescent rehabilitation setting.
A randomized controlled trial. (UMIN Clinical Trials Registry ID: UMIN000006238).
A rehabilitation hospital.
39 elderly patients with decreased skeletal muscle mass in an inpatient convalescence rehabilitation unit.
A combination of resistance training plus nutritional supplementation (R/N group) or resistance training alone (R group). The training and supplementation were conducted essentially from the patient's admission to discharge (2-6 months).
The patients were evaluated at the time of admission and at the end of the intervention for skeletal muscle mass (calf circumference [CC] as a primary outcome, and arm circumference [AC]), hand grip strength (HG), Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA®-SF) score, serum albumin level (Alb), body mass index (BMI), and activities of daily living (ADL) as represented by the Barthel Index (BI) score.
Significant treatment effects were seen for CC, AC, BI, Alb in the R/N group compared to the R group. A mean treatment effect of 3.2 (95%CI: 2.0-4.4) was seen in CC, 1.4 (95%CI: 0.8-2.1) was seen in AC, 11.2 (95%CI: 0.5-21.8) was seen in BI, 0.3 (95%CI: 0.1-0.5) was seen in Alb.
The results of this study suggest that nutritional intervention added to resistance training during convalescent rehabilitation may improve skeletal muscle mass and activities of daily living.