Assessing the risk of malnutrition of elderly patients using Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA)

Background. Proper nutrition is one of the significant factors determining maintaining good health. It also enables to maintain physical and mental efficiency, additionally it supports pharmacological treatment in case of older people. Involutional changes of advanced age, as well as improper eating habits contribute to many irregularities. Material and methods. The research group included 120 patients of a chosen health care department providing health service in outpatient clinics. The mean age was 74.3 years. The chosen method for research was a diagnostic survey based on the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Results. About 71% of patients were well nourished, no one were malnourished, but 29% were at risk of malnutrition according to the MNA. There were no significant differences in age and sex in the context of the risk of malnutrition (test x(2); p > 0.05). Nutritional status was significantly associated with ADL (r(s) = 0.47; p < 0.05) and GDS (r(s) = -0.46; p < 0.05). There were significant differences in risk of malnutrition and health self-assessment (test x(2); p < 0.001). Conclusions. 1. The occurrence of risk of malnutrition is a significant health problem among patients in primary health care. 2. No sex and age differences in the context of malnutrition risk were found, however the risk of malnutrition increases with reducing self-service skills, intensification of depression symptoms and correlates with health self-assessment. 3. Because of the gradual aging of society, the problem of malnutrition acquires growing importance for general practitioners and primary health care nurses.