Evaluation of a Rwanda Hospital Feeding Program on Nutrition, Recovery, Costs of Care and Health Related Quality of Life

Solid'Africa

Status: Completed

Conditions: Nutrition

Treatments: Other: Meals

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06852885

RNEC80/2024

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this interventional study was to evaluate outcomes for Solid'Africa's Gemura feeding program in four selected public hospitals comparing results between patients receiving and patients not receiving the feeding program. The study measured the effects of the program on patients nutritional status, recovery during hospitalization, patient health related-quality of life, patient satisfaction, and patient costs of care. Participants were asked: (1) to eat meals provided three times a day if they were in the intervention group; (2) to participate in an intake and discharge survey; and (3) to participate in a daily food intake survey.

Full description

A multi-center, quasi-experimental study using difference-in-differences controlled comparison to test the outcomes of Solid'Africa's Gemura feeding intervention in four selected public hospitals (two in intervention group and other two in control group) from urban and peri-urban areas targeting socioeconomically vulnerable inpatients. This study has a primary outcome which is nutritional status as measured by body mass index (BMI), and secondary outcomes which include recovery during hospitalization, patient health-related quality of life (HRQOL), patient satisfaction, and patient costs of care.

Enrollment: 794 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 5+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Hospital inpatients
• Vulnerable socioeconomic status according to social worker assessment
• Most inpatient categories
• Voluntary, self-feeding ability
• Able to stand on scale, with help if needed

Exclusion criteria

• Hospital outpatients
• Patients not determined socioeconomically vulnerable by social worker
• Pregnant women hospitalized for delivery
• Patients undergoing special treatment for malnutrition
• Patients receiving enteral or parenteral nutrition treatment
• Patients receiving any kind of artificial feeding support
• Patients unable to stand on scale to measure weight

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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794 participants in 2 patient groups

Gemura

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention of the Solid'Africa Gemura selective feeding program will be administered as usual for study participants in the two intervention sites. Eligible hospital inpatients will receive three meals a day during their hospital stay, as prescribed by hospital nutritionists for their specific conditions and ordered from Solid'Africa. The Solid'Africa team will prepare the ordered meals in their off-site kitchen in Rusororo and deliver them daily to the hospitals where the meals will be distributed to the study participants. Meal caloric and nutritional content information is standardized except upon request. The normal meal is 575g of food consisting of 2300kCal with 300g of carbohydrates, 175g of protein, and 100g vitamins/minerals. In addition, Solid'Africa will adjust meal content per nutritionist request for specific needs like low salt/sugar, etc.

Treatment:

Other: Meals

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

This arm includes inpatients meeting the same eligibility criteria as the intervention arm. However, no intervention will be offered and these patients will experience a hospital stay as usual.