MNA predictive value in the follow-up of geriatric patients

The aim of this study is to verify, in a sample of elderly subjects admitted to long-term care, the impact of malnutrition, according to the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), on mortality and on the occurrence of Adverse Clinical Events in a 3-12 months follow-up study.

The survey included all patients admitted to a geriatric hospital--"Villa delle Querce", Nemi (Rome, Italy)--between January 1997 and April 2000, whose nutritional status we were able to monitor for over 3 months. The study comprised 167 elderly subjects, of which 125 women (74.9%) aged 83.3 8 years (60-95 years), and 42 men (25.1%) aged 79.6 9 years with an average follow-up period of 7.5 months.

Upon admission and at every check we evaluated each subject's cognitive functions, functional status, co-morbidity, frailty, nutritional status (anthropometric and biochemical indices; MNA). During the follow-up we recorded Adverse Clinical Events. We calculated the predictive value of MNA, we correlated variations in MNA scores with variations of nutritional parameters.

MNA's predictive ability both upon admission and upon discharge was found to be excellent. The MNA score was found to be correlated-although not to a very high degree-with variations nutritional parameters. Even more than malnutrition, a low MNA score was found to be predictive of a greater incidence of Adverse Clinical Events during hospitalisation and of higher mortality.