Abstract

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literatures was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition intervention by dietitian. The 31 studies that were all randomized controlled trials, were identified from computerized search of published researches on MEDLINE, Embase database until January, 2003 and review of reference lists. The main search terms were the combination "dietitian", "dietary intervention", "nutrition intervention" or "nutritional intervention" and "effectiveness". The subgroup analysis was performed by the publication year, quality score, type of disease, content of intervention, intervention provider, type of intervention (nutritional counseling and education/nutrition counseling and education + diet modification), method of intervention (individual/group/individual + group) and follow-up period. Two reviewers independently selected trials for inclusion, assessed the quality and extracted the data. The meta-analysis of 31 studies based on the random effect model showed that the medical nutrition therapy was significantly effective in treating the diseases (effect size 0.1715 ; 95% confidence interval 0.0938 - 0.2491). This study showed the clear evidence of the effectiveness of nutrition intervention through the meta-analysis. So the nutrition intervention by dietitian should be recommended and recognized as the effective therapy of treating the diseases. Also the nutrition intervention should be conducted regularly to maintain the effectiveness of the nutrition intervention. The nutrition intervention was significantly effective in treating the diseases on the random effect model (effect size :0.1715 ; 95% confidence interval 0.0938 - 0.2491).

• Keywords: nutrition intervention; dietitian; effectiveness; systematic review; meta-analysis