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[Validation of global nutrition assessment in elders]
C Urteaga1, R I Ramos, E Atalah
1Departamento de Nutrición, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 13.898, Correo 21, Santiago, Chile.
Revista Medica De Chile
|October 30, 2001
Summary
The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) failed to identify nutritional risk in Chilean elders. Many subjects with poor food intake had normal MNA scores, indicating poor screening performance.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Nutritional Science
- Public Health
Background:
- The Chilean Ministry of Health recommended the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) for identifying nutritional risk in elders.
- The MNA incorporates anthropometric, dietary, and quality of life indicators.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the agreement between the MNA and objective measures like body mass index (BMI) and dietary intake.
- To assess MNA's effectiveness in a population of free-living elderly individuals in Chile.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 70+ year-old individuals from Chilean public outpatient clinics.
- Measurements included the MNA, 24-hour dietary recalls, and anthropometric parameters.
- Concordance was assessed using the Kappa index, with energy and micronutrient intake compared against FAO/WHO/UNU and DRI standards.
Main Results:
- 43% of participants were overweight or obese.
- Suboptimal intake of key micronutrients (calcium, folate, zinc, vitamins A, C, E, B6, B12) and energy was prevalent.
- 79% reported deficient or regular food intake, yet 66% had a normal MNA score.
- 58% with deficient food intake had normal MNA scores, and 73% identified as at-risk by MNA were normal or overweight.
Conclusions:
- The Mini Nutritional Assessment demonstrated low concordance with dietary and anthropometric parameters in this cohort.
- The MNA did not effectively identify elderly individuals at nutritional risk within this Chilean sample.
- Findings suggest limitations in the MNA's utility for screening nutritional status in this population.