Geriatric rehabilitation primarily aims to achieve functional goals (walking, dressing, toileting, transferring etc.) to enable patients to return home, but we believe it offers a good window of opportunity to combat sarcopenia with resistance exercise training (RET) and protein supplementation. However, sarcopenia awareness, feasibility to diagnose and treat sarcopenia and efficacy of treatment in geriatric rehabilitation patients remain to be established. With this aim, EMPOWER-GR (Enhancing Muscle POWER in Geriatric Rehabilitation) started in 2020.
Main objectives
EMPOWER-GR encompasses four pillars:
1) an observational study of 200 geriatric rehabilitation inpatients determining sarcopenia prevalence, functional and nutritional status at admission
2) a survey among these 200 patients and 500 healthcare professionals and semi-structured interviews in 30 patients and 15 carers determining sarcopenia awareness and barriers/enablers regarding diagnostics and treatment
3) a feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT) in 80 patients with sarcopenia admitted to geriatric rehabilitation. The active group receives three RET sessions per week and protein supplementation (oral nutritional supplement) twice daily in combination with usual care for 13 weeks. The control group (n = 40) receives usual care. Primary outcomes are feasibility (adherence to the intervention, drop-out rate, overall feasibility) and change in muscle mass
4) knowledge sharing on sarcopenia diagnosis and treatment
Evidence from EMPOWER-GR is expected to encourage and facilitate the implementation and optimization of diagnostic and treatment strategies for sarcopenia in geriatric rehabilitation.
Consortium
EMPOWER-GR is a consortium of university (VU, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), academic hospital (Amsterdam UMC), geriatric rehabilitation care provider (Cordaan) and industry (Danone Nutricia Research) partners in the Netherlands.
The collaboration project is co-funded by the PPP Allowance made available by Health~Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health, and Top Sector Agri & Food to stimulate public-private partnerships, and includes a contribution from Danone Nutricia Research.