Refrigerator content and hospital admission in old people.

We assessed whether the refrigerator contents of elderly people could be related to subsequent admission to hospital. 132 patients aged over 65 years had a thorough assessment of their refrigerator contents and the numbers and dates of admission were recorded. Elderly people with empty refrigerators were more frequently admitted (p=0.032) in the month after assessment and three times sooner than those who did not have empty refrigerators (34 vs 100 days, p=0.002).