The Mini Nutritional Assessment as an assessment tool in elders in long-term care

The prevalence of malnutrition increases with age and is most common in the institutionalized individual. Malnutrition is a condition associated with greater susceptibility to infection, longer hospital stay, and increased mortality. Detection of risk of malnutrition in elders and early intervention may lessen these negative consequences. A tool that has been used for assessing nutritional status of elders is the Mini Nutritional Assessment, or MNA. The MNA tool was originally validated in relatively healthy elders in France and New Mexico, but assessment scores seem to correlate with immune function, morbidity, and mortality of elders in long-term care. One of the advantages of using the MNA for assessing nutritional status of elders in long-term care is that it does not need any biochemical tests, such as serum albumin or prealbumin. A weakness of the MNA is that a number of questions target independent-living elders but not elders in long-term care or elders receiving nutrition support. The benefits, limitations, and interpretations in the use of this tool in a long-term care setting are discussed.