Appetite is an important factor for dietary intake in patients with heart failure - a comparison study

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland, Uppsala University, Eskilstuna, Sweden, the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation.

Background

Loss of appetite and suboptimal dietary intake is common in heart failure, which can result in malnutrition. Malnutrition is associated with poor prognosis and needs to be identified and treated. Despite this, few studies have investigated whether appetite and dietary intake may be intertwined.

Purpose

To compare dietary intake between heart failure patents with poor and good appetite.

Methods

A cross-sectional observational study design was used, and patients were recruited from three outpatient heart failure clinics in Sweden. The sample included 186 patients with confirmed heart failure with NYHA class II-IV (Mdn = NYHA class II). The mean age was 70 (SD = 11) years and 119 were male 69%. Dietary intake was assessed by a 3-day self-recorded food diary, including two weekdays and one week-end-day. Components including energy intake, macronutrients, fiber, minerals, vitamins, and water were collected, entered, and calculated by a dietician using the software Dietist XP. Appetite was self-reported using the Council on Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (CNAQ). The total score ranges between 8-40, low scores indicate poor appetite. Mann-Whitney U test was used to investigate differences in dietary intake between patients with poor appetite (CNAQ ≤ 28) and good appetite (CNAQ > 28). The eta2 (Z2/N-1) was used to estimate the effect size.

Results

Patients with poor appetite (n = 71, 38%) reported significantly lower intake (p < 0.05) of calories, protein, fat, fiber, vitamin B6 and B12, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, phosphor, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc, selenium and water compared to those with good appetite (n = 115, 62%). The effect size was small (eta2 = 0.02-0.09).

Conclusions

This study shows that poor appetite contributes to a significant lower intake of essential nutrients compared to patients with good appetite. Health care professionals should assess appetite routinely during heart failure follow-up since poor appetite may contribute to inadequate dietary intake with risk for malnutrition. Future longitudinal studies are required to increase the knowledge whether assessment of appetite can be used to determine malnutrition in heart failure.

Diet variety mediates the effect of appetite on dietary nutritional insufficiency in patients with heart failure

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): National Institutes of Health R01 NR 009280 & P20 NR 010679

Background

Poor appetite is commonly reported in patients with heart failure, which may lead to a diet with limited food variety. Limited food variety, in turn, can result in dietary nutritional insufficiencies.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the relationship between appetite and dietary nutritional insufficiencies was mediated through diet variety.

Methods

In this secondary analysis, patients with heart failure rated appetite on a 10-point visual analog scale from 1 to 10. Nutritional insufficiency and diet variety were assessed by a four-day food diary analyzed by Nutrition Data Systems. Nutrition insufficiency was defined as the total number of 18 minerals and vitamins that were insufficient in the diet. Diet variety was calculated as the number of 23 food types consumed over the 4 days. A mediation analysis was conducted controlling for age, gender, New York Heart Association (NYHA), and body mass index using the PROCESS v3.5 macro program with 5,000 bootstrap samples in SPSS.

Results

A total of 238 patients (mean age 61, SD = 12; male n = 164, 69%; NYHA III/IV, n = 107, 45%) were included. The mean body mass index was 30 kg/m2 (SD = 7). The mean appetite score was 7.5 (SD = 2.3). The mean number of micronutrient insufficiencies was 4.7 (SD = 3.5), and the mean diet variety score was 12.4 (SD = 2.6). Appetite was not directly associated with nutrition insufficiency (effect = -.1802; 95% CI = -.3715, .0111) controlling co-variates. However, there was a significant indirect effect of appetite on nutrition insufficiency through diet variety controlling for covariates (effect = -.0828: 95% CI = -.1585, -.0150).

Conclusions

Diet variety mediated the association between appetite and dietary micronutrient insufficiency in patients with heart failure. The findings suggest that dietary intervention aimed at increasing patients’ appetite may increase diet variety and enhance the nutritional quality of diets of patients with heart failure.

The Role of Nutritional Status in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure

Evidence indicates that malnutrition very frequently co-occurs with chronic heart failure (HF) and leads to a range of negative consequences. Studies show associations between malnutrition and wound healing disorders, an increased rate of postoperative complications, and mortality. In addition, considering the increasing age of patients with HF, a specific approach to their treatment is required. Guidelines proposed by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) for treating acute and chronic HF refer to the need to monitor and prevent malnutrition in HF patients. However, the guidelines feature no strict nutritional recommendations for HF patients, who are at high nutritional risk as a group, nor do they offer any such recommendations for the poor nutritional status subgroup, for which high morbidity and mortality rates have been observed. In the context of multidisciplinary healthcare, recommended by the ESC and proven by research to offer multifaceted benefits, nutritional status should be systematically assessed in HF patients. Malnutrition has become a challenge within healthcare systems and day-to-day clinical practice, especially in developed countries, where it affects the course of disease and patients' prognosis.