Assessing nutritional assessment.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · PubMed Health
Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Nutritional assessment is an important facet of the medical care of infants and children. An accurate assessment allows for the early detection and treatment of nutrient deficiencies. The traditional nutritional assessment includes anthropometric measurements, biochemical evaluation, clinical examination, and dietary evaluation. Newer techniques include the assessment of body composition using total body electrical conductivity or bioelectrical impedance. The sophistication of nutritional support makes it necessary to identify more sensitive methods for accurate nutritional assessment.
Nutritional status is a dynamic entity that changes because of interactions between nutrient intake and absorption and requirements and disease. Clinically relevant nutritional assessment should determine whether the patient's nutritional status will decline in the absence of nutritional support. In addition, such assessment should predict complications in the absence of nutritional intervention. The role of different techniques--clinical body compositional, and functional--is discussed in this context.
In order to study nutritional assessment and nutritional support therapy for elderly patients, we conducted energy supply therapy on 15 elderly (aged over 75) patients disabled with diseases such as cerebrovascular disease, pneumonia and heart failure. After recovery from acute phase, they were divided into 3 groups, and assigned to 3 different energy supply methods for 2 weeks: Six (3 males, 3 females) could take hospital diet, but only could absorb about 50% of the energy, amounting only 1,000 to 1,400 kcal/day. Additional 246 kcal was given by peripheral parental nutrition (PPN). Five (2 males, 3 females) were unable to take nutrition orally. Therefore, they were given high caloric nutrients by total parental nutrition (TPN), giving (1,222 kcal daily for a week), then 1,666 kcal for another week. Four (1 male, 3 females) also could not take meals orally, and had to be nourished by enteral nutrition (EN) with a nutrient preparation of 1,120 kcal for one week, then with 1,600 kcal for another week. In all 3 groups, the indices of rapid turnover proteins (pre-albumin, retinol binding protein and transferrin), choline esterase and vitamin A significantly elevated after 2 weeks of therapy, though the increase of pre-albumin and RBP in TPN group was slightly below the significant level. The increase in rapid turnover proteins and choline esterase was greater in the order of EN, TPN and PPN. Vitamin C, on the other hand, decreased significantly with treatment in all the groups, while vitamin E remained unchanged.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS) are screening and assessment tools aimed at detecting malnourished individuals and those at risk for malnutrition. In our study we tested their applicability in geriatric hospital patients and compared the results of the three tools. We examined prospectively all patients of two acute geriatric wards by the MNA, the SGA and the NRS. 121 patients were included in the study. The MNA could be completed in 66.1% of all patients, the SGA in 99.2% and the NRS in 98.3%. There was a significant association of all three tools with the BMI (p<0.01). With regard to serum albumin and to length of hospital stay (p<0.05), only a significant association could be shown for the MNA (p<0.05). Although the categories of the results were not completely identical for the three tools there were more patients at risk or malnourished according to the MNA (70%) than according to the SGA (45%) or the NRS (40.3%). The direct comparison of the NRS with the MNA and the SGA demonstrated significant differences, especially for the latter (p<0.001). In a relevant percentage of those tested, MNA, SGA, and NRS identify different individuals as malnourished or at risk for malnutrition. Because of its association with relevant prognostic parameters, the MNA is still the first choice for geriatric hospital patients. For those patients to whom the MNA cannot be applied, the NRS is recommended.
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.
BACKGROUND: Liver cirrhosis affects the results of many of the traditional techniques currently used to evaluate nutritional status. Our aim was to compare the traditional two-compartment model (subjective global assessment and anthropometry and blood tests) of nutritional assessment with a multicompartmental model (body composition analysis) in patients with cirrhosis. METHODS: Seventy-nine patients and 17 control subjects were studied. Subjective global assessment, anthropometry and blood tests, and body composition analysis were performed for each. The two most important compartments were body cell mass and total body fat. The subjects were classified by each method as well nourished or moderately or severely malnourished. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients (31.6%) were malnourished according to the subjective global assessment, 2 (6.3%) with Child's class A cirrhosis, 10 (34.5%) with class B, and 13 (72.2%) with class C, whereas 24 (30.4%) were malnourished according to the traditional model, 5 (15.6%) in the Child's A group, 8 (27.6%) in B, and 11 (61.1%) in C. According to the multicompartmental model, 48 patients (60.1%) were malnourished, 11 (34.4%) in Child's A, 20 (69%) in B, and 17 (94.4%) in C. The use of the multicompartmental model increased the prevalence of malnutrition by more than 60% in Child's classes A and B patients and by more than 20% in Child's class C patients. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional nutritional assessment, although easier, underestimated the prevalence and severity of malnutrition in patients with cirrhosis. The underestimation was more pronounced in Child's class A and B patients.
Nutrition research is in the process of addressing a series of questions related to the future of diet and health. Are all humans the same with respect to their response to diet? If not, humans must be fed differently according to the differences in their genetics and metabolic needs. Are those differences self-evident to the individual or their care-givers? If not, methods must be developed to measure the basis of differences between humans. Are the current sets of diagnostic biomarkers for disease appropriate and sufficient to distinguish the appropriate diets of humans for optimal metabolic health? If not, metabolites must be measured such that the differences in human metabolism are resolvable before they become diseased. Will a small subset of metabolic markers provide an indication of intended and unintended effects of diets that relate to overall metabolism? If not, comprehensive metabolic analyses (metabolomics) must be put in place to ensure that all aspects of health are accurately assessed. Inappropriate dietary choices are accelerating the development of chronic metabolic disease and threatening to overwhelm public health's ability to manage them. Nutrition and food sciences will need to collaborate with other scientific disciplines to develop and implement metabolic assessment technologies and to assemble annotated databases of metabolite profiles in humans, thus building the knowledge needed to link metabolism to diet and health. Biochemical and physiological research must be guided to define the mechanisms by which diet interacts with metabolism in different individuals. Integrating metabolism with the genetic and dietary variables that affect health is the role of nutrition sciences. Integrating personal nutritional value with food's other key values of safety, quality, comfort, delight, convenience and affordability is the role of food science. It is time for these two fields to address a common problem, metabolic health, with coordinated solutions.
BACKGROUND: Body weight is a good indicator of a person's size and is widely used in clinical assessment. However, health-status assessment based on observed body weight (W(O)) is incorrect for persons with limb amputation. OBJECTIVES: The objectives were 1) to develop a more accurate and generalized method for estimating body weight in persons with limb amputation, 2) to determine whether corrected body weight can be used to assess nutritional status in persons with limb amputation, and 3) to test the validity of the estimation by using empirical data. DESIGN: Anthropometric data were collected from men from Calcutta and adjoining areas with unilateral lower-extremity amputation (n = 102). Mathematic formulas were developed for determining estimated body weight (W(E)) and body mass index (BMI) calculated from both W(O) and W(E) (ie, BMI(O) and BMI(E), respectively). We assessed nutritional status by using BMI(O) and BMI(E) and tested the validity of each by considering the result of nutritional assessment from midupper arm circumference as the gold standard. We also compared the nutritional status results for the subjects with limb amputation with those for a similar sample size of healthy control subjects. RESULTS: BMI(E) had a stronger association with midupper arm circumference and a higher efficiency (ie, proportion of correct results given by any test method) than did BMI(O). Moreover, the results obtained with BMI(E) were similar to those obtained with BMI in healthy control subjects. However, the nutritional assessments made with BMI(O) and BMI(E) did not differ significantly from one another. CONCLUSION: For persons with limb amputation, W(E) provides a better basis for appropriate nutritional evaluation than does W(O).
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The prevalence of malnutrition in Veterans Administration Hospitals has been well documented. Several methods have been proposed to assess nutritional status including prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and instant nutritional assessment (INA). A prospective study was done to evaluate the currently used nutritional assessments and determine their efficacy based on sensitivity and specificity in predicting surgical morbidity and mortality. Data on 46 patients were evaluated for the multiparameter index of PNI, total lymphocyte count and serum albumin for INA, and weight loss alone. In this analysis, intermediate and high risk PNI were combined as positive predictor of complications. Any abnormal value in INA was considered positive as was weight loss of greater than 6% of usual body weight. Sensitivity and specificity of each assessment method were determined by 2 X 2 contingency table, and significance of observed differences between methods was determined by chi 2 analysis. There were no complications or deaths in patients with less than 6% weight loss. All three patients with abnormal albumin and total lymphocyte count had complications as compared to only three of 32 patients when both of these parameters were normal. The PNI was also able to predict complications with an increasing incidence as the PNI increased. Only the difference between specificity of weight loss alone vs INA was statistically significant, p less than 0.05. Thus, weight loss alone can be used as a rapid, inexpensive assessment of nutritional status for predicting postoperative complications.
OBJECTIVE: Different methods have been used to assess nutritional status in hospitalized patients, and there is no agreement as to which index best reflects nutritional status. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and compare the Subjective Global Assessment, Nutrition Risk Index, and non-nutritional factors in hospitalized patients. METHODS: This prospective study was done in the teaching hospital of Pamukkale University Medical School, Denizli, Turkey. Two hundred fifty-one consecutive patients hospitalized in medical and surgical wards were studied. On admission, the Subjective Global Assessment, Nutrition Risk Index, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory data were assessed. Differences between independent groups were assessed with Student's t test and one-way analysis of variance. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated for associations between scores and variables. Agreement between two assessment methods was analyzed by the K statistic. RESULTS: On admission, 30% of patients were malnourished according to the Subjective Global Assessment and 36% according to the Nutrition Risk Index. Body weight, albumin, lymphocyte, total cholesterol, and anthropometric data were lower in the malnourished patients according to both assessments (P < 0.01). Body weight loss and length of stay were higher in the malnourished patients according to both assessments (P < 0.01). Body weight, anthropometric data, albumin, and total cholesterol correlated inversely with nutritional status according to both techniques. Concordance was observed in 203 of the 251 (81%) patients with both assessments (K = 0.57, P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Both tests correlated with each other with respect to age, length of stay, and anthropometric and laboratory data in hospitalized patients. Therefore, these two techniques can be used for nutritional assessment in hospitalized patients.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The physician can incorporate nutritional assessment of the elderly patient into office practice by considering two questions. First, is the patient at nutritional risk due to disease, disability or medication? Second, is the patient at risk of disease and disability because of poor nutritional status? The four primary components of the nutritional assessment are summarized by the mnemonic ABCD, with A standing for anthropometric measurements such as height and weight; B for biochemical parameters such as the serum albumin level and the hemoglobin count; C for clinical evaluation, including an assessment of functional, social and mental status, the medical history and the physical examination, and D for dietary history, such as the use supplements and the adequacy of the diet.
BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is frequent in cirrhotic patients, and its assessment is difficult. Functional assessment through a dynamometer is a simple method and could minimize these drawbacks. Harris-Benedict prediction formulae estimates the resting energy expenditure but has not been validated for this population. One alternative is the use of indirect calorimetry. AIM: To assess nutritional status in cirrhotic patients and estimates the resting energy expenditure through indirect calorimetry and compares it to Harris-Benedict. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty four adult hepatitis C cirrhotic outpatients were studied, classified by Child-Pugh and model of end-stage liver disease score. The resting energy expenditure was predicted through Harris-Benedict and measured by indirect calorimetry. Nutritional assessment was done through anthropometry, subjective global assessment, hand-grip strength and a 3-day recall. RESULTS: Fifteen (44.2%) were Child-Pug A, 12 (35.3%) B and 7 (20.6%) C, and 33 (97.1%) had model of end-stage liver disease scores less than 20. The resting energy expenditure predicted was higher than the measured (Harris-Benedict 1404.5 +/- 150.3 kcal; indirect calorimetry 1059.9 +/- 309.6 kcal). The prevalence of malnutrition varied between methods (body mass index, muscle arm circumference, subjective global assessment, triceps skinfold thickness and hand-grip strength: 0; 5.9; 17.6; 35.3 and 79.4%, accordingly). Calories and proteins intake were 80% and 85% of recommended amounts and there was inadequate intake of calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. CONCLUSION: Malnutrition was frequent and hand-grip strength seemed to be the most sensitive method for its diagnosis. Calories and protein intakes were inadequate. Considering that the predicted resting energy expenditure was higher than the measured one and the need to offer higher caloric intake, the use of the predicting equation may replace indirect calorimetry.
We studied on 66 patients with esophageal cancer with preoperative enteral hyperalimentation by elemental diet, comparing with 64 patients without it, and the following results were obtained; Items such as TP, Alb, etc. in surviving patients, as well as those who died within 3 months, were worse immediately before operation than those at the time of admission when neither TPN nor ED was yet in use. In 35 of 66 patients, there were significant differences between the patients with or without postoperative complications, and who were died after surgery, in arm circumference (AC), triceps skinfold (TSF), arm muscle circumference (AMC), albumin (Alb), prealbumin (PA), retinol-binding protein (RBP) and PPD skin test. From the studies of about 60 items with the computer, the index as follow were obtained. Nutritional Assessment Index (NAI) = 2.64 AC + 0.6 PA + 3.76 RBP + 0.017 PPD - 53.8 Nutritional status of the patients was divided retrospectively broadly to three groups, good (NAI greater than or equal to 60), intermediate (60 greater than NAI greater than or equal to 40), and poor (40 greater than NAI) in preoperative period. The incidence of postoperative complications and mortality rates were reflected significantly in NAI. NAI would be useful to know prospectively the probability of all kinds of postoperative complications as well as estimating the nutritional assessment.
There are different parameters aimed at assessing nutritional status. These parameters may be of some help to assess nutritional status prior to patients' admission. However, their application in the critically ill patient is troublesome since results interpretation is interfered by changes originated by the acute disease or treatment measures. This is particularly true in relation to anthropometrical variables that are severely affected by changes in water distribution in the critical patient. Biochemical markers (creatinine/height index, serum albumin, etc.) are also interfered as a result of the metabolic changes that modify the synthesis and degradation processes. Short half-life proteins (prealbumin, retinol-bound protein) are not indicative of the nutritional status although they do inform about an appropriate response to nutrients intake and concurrence of new conditions of metabolic stress. Functional assessment parameters, such as muscular function test, are also difficult to apply in a great number of patients. Subjective global assessment, although it requires some degree of expertise, may be an appropriate tool. Some theoretically more accurate methods, such as bioelectrical impedance, need further investigation in these patients before being recommended.
The evaluation of nutritional status in cancer patients is often neglected in spite of the fact that poor nutritional status may adversely affect prognosis and treatment tolerance. In day-to-day oncology practice, a sensitive but simply applied nutritional assessment tool is needed to identify at-risk patients. Several tools exist; however, none has been universally accepted. The aim of this study was to compare two potential tools, the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and the scored Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PGSGA). The MNA is more simply applied and does not require a trained dietitian. The PGSGA has been previously validated in cancer patients. One hundred fifty-seven newly diagnosed cancer patients were assessed using both tools. Of these, 126 were reassessed at 4-6 wk, and 104 were reassessed at Weeks 8-12 after initial assessment. A significant negative correlation was found between the tools at all three time periods (at baseline r = -0.76; P < 0.001). Taking the PGSGA as the most accepted nutritional assessment tool, at baseline the MNA demonstrated a sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 54%. At 4-6 wk MNA sensitivity was 79% and specificity was 69%. At 8-12 wk MNA sensitivity was 93% and specificity was 82%. When comparing the tools in elderly patients alone (>65 yr), similar results were obtained. Both tools were able to correctly classify patients as malnourished, although the MNA lacks specificity. Therefore, the PGSGA should be the tool of choice for nutritional assessment in cancer patients.