Increasing dairy intake for aged care residents helps reduce risk of fractures and could save up to $66 million in healthcare costs
Increasing calcium and protein intake in Australian aged care residents to the recommended daily requirements helps reduce the risk of fractures and falls, and could save up to $66 million a year in preventative healthcare costs, a new study has found.
Published in the Age and Ageing journal, the health economic analysis by Monash University found that nutritional intervention to reduce the risk of falls and fractures could result in significant cost-savings for the health system.
The study is based on the results of a two-year clinical trial undertaken by the University of Melbourne and Austin Health that involved more than 7,000 residents from 60 Melbourne and regional aged-care homes.
The results of the clinical trial, published in the BMJ in 2021, found a 33 per cent reduction in the risk of all fractures for aged care residents whose daily dairy and protein intake was increased from two servings to three and a half.
Drawing from the results of the 2013-2016 trial, the economic analysis estimated that dietary intervention can save the health system $66 million annually, which takes into account ambulance transportation, hospital admission, rehabilitation, and extra care requirements once they return to their aged care home.
The study recorded an average overall saving of $175 per resident per year, with the cost of increasing dairy to the menu estimated at $0.66 per day, per resident.
The study’s first author, Monash University PhD candidate Yeji Baek from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, worked alongside health economist and senior author, Professor Zanfina Ademi from Monash’s Centre for Medicine Use and Safety at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, to project the preventative costs to Australia’s healthcare budget.
“Aged care is one of Australia’s largest service industries and it was projected (in the Aged Care Royal Commission) that, over the next decade, Australian Government spending on aged care will increase by 4 per cent a year,” said Professor Ademi.
“Taking this into account, assessing potential savings due to nutritional interventions is essential for the planning and management of Australia’s long-term aged care budget.
“Our analysis confirms that in order to prevent fractures and reduce the flow on effects to public health and individual care costs, implementing a nutritional intervention in these settings is critical.”
Principal investigator of the clinical trial, Dr Sandra Iuliano, Senior Research Fellow from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health, hopes the findings from the trial will be used to improve best practice across the aged-care sector, while helping to improve quality of life for older adults at risk.
“Providing adequate dairy foods in the diets of older adults, and therefore reducing the risk of hip and other non-vertebral fractures, is a proven intervention and a sensible means to reducing costs on the public and private system, while ensuring quality of life for older Australians,” Dr Iuliano said.
“Improving calcium and protein intakes to reduce fracture risk by simply increasing dairy food intake in residents is effective, familiar and tasty, and supports the wide-spread implementation of this type of nutritional intervention in similar settings.”
During the trial, a serve of dairy was defined as 250mL milk, 40g cheese and 200g yoghurt, based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
The recommended daily intake of dairy is 3.5 servings daily for men and 4 for women.
The researchers found this simple intervention, achieved by swapping or adding dairy foods to the aged care resident’s menu including milk-based coffees, cheese and crackers or yoghurt at snack time, led to a 33 per cent reduction in risk of fractures, and a 46 per cent reduction in the risk of hip fractures.
The research was supported by grants from nine global dairy research foundations and three philanthropic organisations, including Dairy Australia, California Dairy Research Foundation, National Dairy Council, Aarhus University Hospital and Danish Dairy Research Foundation, Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, Dutch Dairy Association, Dairy Council of California, Dairy Farmers of Canada, the Centre national interprofessionnel de l’economie laitiere, University of Melbourne, Austin Hospital Medical Research Foundation and Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation.
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
To read the full study visit: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37389558/