Dietary Supplements May Mean A Shorter Hospital Stay

If you’re missing out on certain vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, your health may suffer. If you’re in the hospital for a health condition, that deficiency can mean more complications. But taking supplements may help you heal and shorten your hospital stay.

A study presented at the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism shows that oral nutritional supplements provided to patients while they were hospitalized were linked to significant reductions in length of stay and hospitalization cost. The scientists also found that the risk of having to go back to the hospital in the month after the initial hospital visit was significantly reduced.

The research looked at more than 1 million hospitalized people in the U.S. It found that giving supplements:

• Shortened hospital stays by 21 percent (an average of 2.3 days per patient).
• Reduced hospital costs by 21.6 percent (an average of $4,734 per patient).
• Reduced the probability of going back to the hospital within a month by 6.7 percent.

“Patients identified as having nutritional deficiencies often face a longer and more difficult recovery process, resulting in higher health care costs and an increase in complication rates,” says researcher Marinos Elia. “Research demonstrates that oral nutritional supplementation can lead to highly positive economic benefits and improved patient outcomes.”