Comparison of Nutritional Status Screening by the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA ® ) and the Nutrition Alert Form (NAF) in Elderly Patients Setting at a Geriatric Clinic, Siriraj Hospital
Napaporn Pengsorn BNS 1 , Weerasak Muangpaisan MD 1 , Prasert Assantachai MD 1 , Chalobol Chalermsri MD 1
Affiliation : 1 Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To evaluate the relationship between the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA ® ) and the Nutrition Alert Form (NAF),
which is a newly developed nutrition screening tool, in a Geriatric Outpatient Clinic.
Materials and Methods : The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted in 159 elderly patients at a Geriatric Clinic,
Siriraj Hospital.
Results : Mean age of the patients was 76.9 + 6.4 years and 62.3% were female. Their mean body mass index was 24.6 + 4.3 kg/
m 2 . The nutritional status which was classified by the MNA ® was normal nutritional status 59.7%, at nutritional risk 32.7%, and
malnourished 7.5 %. By the NAF cut-off points, the proportion of nutrition status were 74.8 % normal nutrition to mild malnutrition,
18.2 % moderate malnutrition, and 6.9% severe malnutrition, respectively. NAF was completed within 5 minutes in every case. The
scores from NAF correlated with that from MNA ® with a correlation of 0.192 ( p 0.015).
Conclusion : The Nutrition Alert Form (NAF) can be used in Geriatric Outpatient Clinic with reasonable correlation with the MNA ® .
Keywords : Nutrition Alert Form, Mini Nutritional Assessment, Nutritional assessment tool, Geriatric outpatient setting
