Nutritional screening tools--How does the MNA compare? Proceedings of the session held in Chicago May 2-3, 2006 (15 Years of Mini Nutritional Assessment).

Malnutrition occurs frequently in the elderly and is correlated with decreased functionality and thereby quality of life, as well as increased morbidity and mortality. This holds true for elderly people living in the community, patients in acute-care hospitals, as well as residents in long-term care facilities. To diagnose malnutrition, it is crucial to have sensitive, easy-to-use and specific tools at hand. The focus of this article is to compare strengths and weaknesses of the most commonly used assessment tools for malnutrition in the elderly, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Mini Nutrition Assessment (MNA), Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and Nutrition Risk Screening (NRS 2002). In conclusion, 15 years after its introduction, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), which was especially developed for elderly people, remains the gold-standard for ambulatory living elderly and those living in long-term care facilities, whereas the NRS 2002 has especially good potential in the acute-care setting, as it was developed specifically for hospitalized patients who need nutritional support.