The Trajectory of Nutritional Status and Physical Activity before and after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 14; no. 23; p. 5137
• Main Authors: van Erck, Dennis, Dolman, Christine D, Scholte Op Reimer, Wilma J M, Henriques, José P, Weijs, Peter J M, Delewi, Ronak, Schoufour, Josje D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-12-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Ankle; Anxiety; Aorta; Aortic stenosis; Aortic valve; Body mass index; Cardiovascular disease; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cognition & reasoning; Dyspnea; Exercise; Female; Geriatric Assessment - methods; Heart; Heart valve diseases; Heart valves; Hospitals; Humans; Implantation; Intervention; Male; Malnutrition; medical procedure; Muscle strength; Nutrition; Nutrition Assessment; Nutritional Status; older patients; Older people; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Product/Service Evaluations; Rehabilitation; Risk Factors; Sarcopenia; TAVI; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement; Transplants & implants; Vein & artery diseases; Netherlands; older patients; nutritional status; medical procedure; TAVI; physical activity
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu14235137

It is suggested that older patients waiting for an elective surgical procedure have a poor nutritional status and low physical activity level. It is unknown if this hypothesis is true and if these conditions improve after a medical procedure. We aimed to determine the trajectory of both conditions before and after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Included patients (n = 112, age 81 ± 5 years, 58% male) received three home visits (preprocedural, one and six months postprocedural). Nutritional status was determined with the mini nutritional assessment—short form (MNA-SF) and physical activity using an ankle-worn monitor (Stepwatch). The median MNA-SF score was 13 (11−14), and 27% of the patients were at risk of malnutrition before the procedure. Physical activity was 6273 ± 3007 steps/day, and 69% of the patients did not meet the physical activity guidelines (>7100 steps/day). We observed that nutritional status and physical activity did not significantly change after the procedure (β 0.02 [95% CI −0.03, 0.07] points/months on the MNA-SF and β 16 [95% CI −47, 79] steps/month, respectively). To conclude, many preprocedural TAVI patients should improve their nutritional status or activity level. Both conditions do not improve naturally after a cardiac procedure.