Development and validation of the Burton Score: a tool for nutritional assessment

This paper describes the development and validation of the Burton Score, a nutritional assessment tool based on the Waterlow score, with the rationale that since nurses already collect data for one score, it would only lead to unnecessary duplication of effort if a totally different scoring scheme were to be used for nutritional assessment. Initial cut offs were determined by a pilot study of 26 patients on an elderly care ward and validated by comparing the nutritional status of 263 patients estimated by the Burton score with a dietitian's assessment of nutrition. The validation study showed that although there was significant correlation between the Burton and Waterlow scores the Burton score correlated more closely with the dietitian's assessments. The King's Fund report of 1992 stated that all patients should have assessment of nutritional status on admission to hospital: we believe the Burton score could provide a simple tool to achieve this goal.