Elderly people who are acutely hospitalised have significantly lower mortality rates when they're given intense, individually tailored dietary treatment.

That's according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, which found that death rates six months after discharge reduced by over three times when given a nutritional treatment plan that had been individually designed and implemented by a registered dietitian.

As reported by ScienceDaily, an intervention group were given the nutritional treatment plan, and the control group weren't. The death rate six months after discharge stood at 11.6 per cent for the control group, but just 3.8 per cent for the intervention group. Furthermore, those in the intervention group had higher scores when assessed for nutritional status.

This could help boost the number of dietitian jobs in geriatric care, as it would reduce mortality rates and increase the quality of life of those elderly people acutely hospitalised.

The dietitian met each patient when admitted, and visited the patient at home three times after being discharged. They decided the appropriate treatment, and set up treatment goals. Dietitians then performed follow up assessments three to six months after discharge.

"This is the first study that used an individually tailored dietary treatment for acutely hospitalised elderly people," explained researcher Dr Danit R. Shahar. "The results indicate that intense dietary treatment reduces mortality and can help reduce the need for re-hospitalisation."