Assessing the nutritional status of the elderly living at home

PurposeMalnutrition is an important and often unrecognized problem in the elderly living at home, with the estimated prevalence of malnutrition ranging from 13% to 30% depending on the methods used and characteristics of the studied individuals. The aim of the study was to compare three tools for assessing the nutritional status of the elderly in the home setting. The sensitivity and usability of these tools in patients over 65 years of age were studied.Subjects and methodsThe MNA, SGA and MUST assessment tools were tested in the elderly living at home. The study comprised 470 senior citizens (46% of males and 54% of females; a mean age of 74.1 years). Statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS v. 17.0 software. Correlations and dependencies were tested with a Chi2 goodness of fit test, Cohen's kappa coefficient (α = 0.05) and Pearson's correlation coefficient.ResultsThe study detected malnutrition in a relatively high proportion of the participants, ranging from 33% to 57.7% depending on the tools used. There were significant differences between individual nutritional assessment tools with respect to identification of at-risk or malnourished patients. The MNA revealed more at-risk or malnourished patients (57.7%) than the MUST (48.3%) or SGA (33.0%).DiscussionThe results are consistent with the high prevalence rates of malnutrition in senior citizens receiving community care reported by other studies.ConclusionsMNA, SGA, and NRS identify different individuals as malnourished or at risk for malnutrition. MNA should be used to assess the nutritional status in elderly in the home setting.