[Significance and diagnosis of malnutrition in the elderly]

In certain high-risk groups like geriatric hospital patients and nursing home inhabitants malnutrition has a high prevalence and is highly relevant for morbidity and mortality in these populations. The diagnosis of malnutrition in the elderly can be achieved by simple parameters like loss of weight, BMI and oral intake. The available screening and assessment instruments like Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS 2002) aim at the standardization of the diagnosis and early recognition of malnutrition. While the MNA seems to be more appropriate for the community-dwelling elderly, the NRS 2002 offers advantages for the hospital setting. The dissimilarity of the two instruments makes the comparison of study populations difficult. Both the results of the MNA and those of the NRS 2002 are unsuitable as follow-up parameters and inappropriate for the evaluation of nutritional intervention. There is still a strong need for studies on the diagnosis and therapy of malnutrition in the elderly, especially in the nursing home setting. For scientific purposes a standardization of the instruments used for the diagnosis of malnutrition and for the evaluation of the study results is essential. The Minimum Data Set may be a first step in the right direction.