Comparison of two nutrition assessment tools in surgical elderly inpatients in Northern China

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Nutrition assessment enables early identification of malnourished patients and those at risk of malnutrition. To determine the prevalence of malnutrition, to analyze the correlation between short-form Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA-SF) and Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) with classical nutritional markers among elderly hospitalized patients in surgery departments, with a view to improving nutrition advice for these patients. METHODS A total of 142 elderly patients admitted for surgery were enrolled in the study. Within 48 hours of admission, MNA-SF and NRS2002 scale, anthropometric measures and biochemical tests were carried out to assess the nutritional status of each patient. RESULTS The prevalence of malnutrition classified by MNA-SF, NRS2002, BMI, serum albumin, hemoglobin, total lymphocyte count, handgrip strength, calf circumference and mid-arm circumference were 45%, 38%, 17%, 22%, 24%, 71%, 36%, 12 % and 15 %, respectively. As the nutritional status classified by both MNA-SF and NRS2002 deteriorated, BMI, serum albumin, hemoglobin, handgrip strength, mid-arm circumference and calf circumference of patients with malnutrition were lower (P < 0.05). MNA-SF and NRS2002 had a unanimous correlation with classical nutritional markers (P < 0.05) except total lymphocyte count (P > 0.05). MNA-SF results showed a moderate agreement (P < 0.001) with NRS2002. Malnourished patients were older than well-nourished patients with NRS2002 (P < 0.05). Digestive disease patients tend to suffer from malnutrition, evaluated by MNA-SF (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The results show a relatively high prevalence of malnutrition among elderly patients in our general surgery department, especially in patients with digestive disease. NRS2002 and MNA-SF on elderly patients showed great consistency but significant difference in elderly patients with digestive disease. Both MNA-SF and NRS2002 correlated with each other and with BMI, serum albumin, hemoglobin, handgrip strength, calf circumference and mid-arm circumference. MNA-SF may be a more suitable tool for the nutrition assessment of surgical elderly inpatients.