Assessment of DeMentia Nutrition Intervention Needs Among Care Recipients and carEgivers (ADMIRE)

Nutrition is critical for disease prevention and brain health. Malnutrition and weight loss often affect persons with Alzheimer's dementia (PWD), worsening overall health and dementia. Informal caregivers (usually family members) perform many nutrition-related tasks as part of daily care such as food preparation and feeding. Limited research, however, suggests informal caregivers experience high rates of caregiver burden, malnutrition and low health literacy. More research is needed to uncover these and other factors that may contribute to malnutrition for both PWDs and their caregivers. Nutrition literacy, or ability to navigate nutrition information to select healthy food, may be an important caregiving factor that protects both individuals from experiencing nutritional decline. Although the NIH has increased funding to support caregiver research, caregiver interventions that include nutrition are lacking. The purpose of this study is to inform the design of a future nutrition intervention study.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Dementia
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Nutrition Status

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 50

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Kansas
    • Kansas City, Kansas, United States, 66160
      • University of Kansas Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants will be recruited as caregiver-patient dyads, and both must fit the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Person with dementia: Must be an adult of any age, diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia or other dementia, reside at home with a family caregiver or domestic partner, and have weight records at a minimum of 2 timepoints.
• Caregiver: Must be at least 18 years old, English speaking, primary caregiver who is responsible for food planning, and no overt cognitive impairment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Person with dementia: Frontal-temporal dementia, alcohol-related dementia, Huntington's disease, schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, or actively participating in nutrition intervention research.
• Caregiver: Visual impairments that prevent completing questionnaires or actively participating in nutrition intervention research.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Participant dyads: Caregivers and Care Recipients; Participants will be recruited in pairs as caregivers and care recipients. All data collected is observational in nature.	Other: Nutrition Status; Participants will be examined by a registered dietitian to assess nutrition status.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Nutrition status of persons with dementia	Nutrition status will be assessed by registered dietitians, using the Mini-Nutrition Assessment (score ranges 0 to 18) and Subjective Global Assessment (score ranges 0-7). Scores of each measure are further categorized into "normal," "at risk of malnutrition," or "malnourished."	1 month
Nutrition literacy of caregivers	Nutrition literacy will be measured by the Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument (score ranges 0 to 42). Scores are interpreted as: >39 good, 29-38: moderate, ≤ 28: poor.	1 week
Nutrition status of caregivers	Nutrition status of caregivers will be measured using the Mini Nutrition Assessment (MNA) tool (18-item version). Scoring is Normal (12-14 pts), At risk of malnutrition (8-11 pts), or Malnourished (0-7 points).	1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived nutrition needs of informal caregivers of persons with dementia	Researchers will use interviews, surveys, and focus groups to collect the thoughts of caregivers and clinic care providers to anticipate needs for a future caregiver intervention.	1 week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Kansas Medical Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Heather D Gibbs, PhD, RD, University of Kansas Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 25, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 8, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): December 8, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 7, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 7, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): September 13, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 10, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: nutrition assessment
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 148085

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No