Mini nutritional assessment test long and short form are valid screening tools in Turkish older adults

Malnutrition is a pitfall in older adults despite its high prevalence and serious consequences. There are various screening tests however, none of them have been validated for our country. In this study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that MNA (long form of MNA) and MNA-SF (short form of MNA) are applicable to screen malnutrition in Turkish geriatric patients.

Two hundred and thirty-six patients aged 65 years and over who were admitted to our geriatric medicine outpatient clinic were enrolled in the study. Four groups of data (anthropometric measurements, biochemical markers, three-day diet record and geriatric assessment scales) were recorded. Long and short forms of MNA test were performed. Two different geriatricians interpreted the patients' nutritional status with the aid of aforementioned data. Patients were divided into three groups which were patients with malnutrition, with malnutrition risk and well-nourished. Concordance between the two geriatricians' clinical assessment was analyzed by kappa statistics. Excellent concordance was found, therefore the first specialist's decisions were accepted as gold-standard. A third physician performed the long and short forms of MNA test. The concordance between the first clinician's assessment and MNA test results were compared subsequently.

MNA and MNA-SF results were compared with first clinician's decision of malnutrition and kappa coefficients were 0.68 and 0.66, respectively. Sensitivity analysis indicated that MNA was 92% sensitive and 86% specific, whereas MNA-SF was 94% sensitive and 81% specific.

MNA and MNA-SF are suitable for malnutrition screening in Turkish older adults.