Abstract

IZAOLA, O. et al. Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) test as a tool of nutritional evaluation in hospitalized patients. An. Med. Interna (Madrid) [online]. 2005, vol.22, n.7, pp.313-316. ISSN 0212-7199.

Objetive: The objetive of the study was to identified the prevalence of malnutrition in come patients with MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) test as a clinical tool. Methods: A total of 145 patients were studied in Hospital del Río Hortega (Valladolid), from mars of 2000 till may of 2002. In all patients a MNA test, an anthropometric and biochemical evaluation were performed. Results: Mean age was 57.44 ± 18.06 years, weight 63.5 ± 13.7 kg and body mass index 23.4 ± 4.9 kg/m². The studied population were 48.6% haematological tumours and other tumours, opposite to the rest of the patients who were presenting cerebro-vascular accidents 2.1%, respiratory problems or infections 16.8%, renal failure 3.5% and neurological diseases or processes of dementia in minor proportion 2.9%. Patients were divided in two groups, malnutrition MNA <17 (n = 99) (group I) and risk of malnutrition MNA ≥ 17 (n = 43) (group II). The malnutrition prevalence was 68.2% (group I) and risk of malnutrition 29.6% (group II) with test MNA. In biochemical evaluation the malnutrition group I had low levels of albumin (2.9 ± 0.7 g/dl vs 3.41 ± 2.71 g/dl; p < 0.05), prealbumin (14.9 ± 6.2 g/dl vs 17.6 ± 8.1 g/dl; p < 0.05) and transferrin (152.2 ± 54.9 g/dl vs 189.9 ± 32.6 g/dl; p<0.05. Arm muscular circumference and arm circumferce had values under average in patients with malnutrition. On having analyzed the different paragraphs of the test MNA between both groups, it was observed since in the group of undernourished patients the punctuation he was below the average in all the paragraphs. Conclusions: The risk of malnutrition in hospital was frequent, detected by MNA test.

Keywords : Malnutrition in hospital; Nutritional status; Mini nutritional test.

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