Nutrients
Effectiveness of Nutrition and Exercise Interventions Among Community-Dwelling Older Vietnamese Adults with Sarcopenia: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial
By Doan TD, Le HTT, Pham TN and 2 others.
Abstract
Background/objectives
Exercise and nutrition are central to sarcopenia management, but Vietnamese evidence is limited. We compared exercise intervention (Ex) alone and Ex plus nutritional support against health education.
Methods
In this study, a three-arm, parallel-group cluster-randomized controlled trial, three communities in Can Gio District were randomly selected and assigned 1:1:1 (one per arm) to health-education control, Ex, or combined intervention. Before allocation, 30 adults aged 60-70 years with AWGS 2019-defined sarcopenia were randomly selected from screening lists within each community (n = 90). Both active arms underwent 24 weeks of aerobic and resistance exercise, with weekly supervised sessions during weeks 1-12 and less-supervised home exercise thereafter. The combined arm also received weekly individualized nutrition counseling and a daily multinutrient oral supplement (270 kcal; 11 g protein) during weeks 1-12. Outcomes at baseline, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks were analyzed using sex-adjusted participant-level linear mixed-effects models.
