Nutrition support in orthopaedics

Nutrition screening tools demonstrate a wide range of reported risk rates across orthopaedic studies, and may particularly lack sensitivity in predicting undernutrition in hip fracture inpatients. This chapter focuses on the nutritional management of undernutrition. Nutrition screening tools demonstrate a wide range of reported risk rates across orthopaedic studies, and may particularly lack sensitivity in predicting undernutrition in hip fracture inpatients. In a recent study of a 142 older acute hip fracture patients, the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short‐Form (MNA‐SF) demonstrated the highest sensitivity, but lowest specificity when compared with a broad variety of other screening tools, anthropometric measures or other markers. Nutrition interventions for undernutrition in orthopaedics can be broadly themed around food and nutrient delivery, education and counselling, and co‐ordination of care to facilitate an adequate protein and energy intake. Nutrition education and counselling of patients or those who care for them may improve intakes and outcomes in orthopaedic inpatients