Dependence of Mini-Nutritional Assessment Scores with Age and Some Hematological Variables in Elderly Institutionalized Patients

Abstract

Background: Nutritional imbalance is a serious problem in developing countries, especially for the older population, which makes simple and rapid instruments for nutritional evaluation very necessary in order to have a detailed picture of the undernutrition epidemiology in those places. Objective: This work aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of elderly institutionalized patients by use of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) test and compare the MNA scores with some hematological variables. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study in elderly institutionalized patients (153) of all nursing homes in the Brazilian city of Uberlândia, using the MNA questionnaire and quantitative analysis of erythrocytes, hematocrit, hemoglobin, serum iron and transferrin. The subjects were classified by gender, nutritional state and age range. The nutritional categories were compared by analysis of variance and the dependence between the considered variables was tested with the Spearman correlation analysis. Results: 60% of the subjects were female. The average age was 74.6 ± 9.5 and 78.5 ± 9.5 years for male and female individuals, respectively. 18.3% of the patients presented undernutrition, 45.7% presented risk of undernutrition, and 36.0% were well nourished. These three nutritional categories showed statistically significant differences among the MNA scores, age and all the hematological parameters, for the sum of both genders, but not for the age, iron and transferrin values of the male individuals and hematocrit and hemoglobin values of the female patients. Significant differences between genders were not observed only for the MNA and transferrin values. MNA values presented positive correlations with erythrocytes, hematocrit, hemoglobin, and serum iron levels, and also a negative correlation with age, which was attributed to a worsening of the nutritional state with age. Conclusion: Based on the MNA, 64% of the elderly institutionalized patients of Uberlândia presented risk of undernutrition and undernutrition, and their nutritional state is aggravating with the age increase, which is consistent with the age-dependent decrease observed in some hematological variables. Since the low MNA scores were not necessarily associated to subnormal mean values of the hematological variables, we can conclude that the low MNA values are predicting situations that still did not manifest pathologically in those variables.

Association between Nutritional Status Determined By Mini Nutritional Assessment and Serum Marker Levels in Older Adults at Eldercare Facilities

“…Malnutrition was proportional to older age when compared with younger groups. This affirmation concurs with that reported by Alves de Rezende et al and Cuervo et al [26,28], who also observed that older adult nutritional status was affected in relation to increased age. This is consistent with the observed age-dependent decrease of certain serum variables.…”

“…The results of the present study are similar to those reported by Alves de Rezende et al and PereidaMachado and Santa Cruz-Coelho [26,27]. Using the same MNA instrument, they classified nutritional status in OAEF in their respective studies as follows: malnourished 8.3% and 15.3%, at risk of malnutrition 45.7% and 55.6%, and normal nutritional status 36% and 29.1%.…”

“…These results differed from those reported by Alves de Rezende et al and Cuervo et al [26,28]. They reported significant differences between the MNA values obtained in regard to sex in the total population; women had the lowest values in that evaluation.…”

The usefulness of routinely used malnutrition screening tools in predicting anemia in lung cancer patients

“…3,29 Another study clearly demonstrated a significant correlation between the MNA test and laboratory parameters indicating hematological disorders. 30 However, this research concerned elderly people living in nursing homes, not cancer patients. In our study, we found that the MNA test was correlated with Hb and Htc.…”

Evde sağlık birimine başvuran yaşlı hastaların beslenme durumları

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Bak›mevinde kalanlarda ve hastanede yatan yafll›larda malnütrisyon riski ve malnütrisyon daha s›kl›kla gözlen-mektedir. [13][14][15] Epidemiyolojik çal›flmalara bak›ld›¤›nda toplum içinde yaflayan yafll›lar›n %5-10'unda malnütris-yon mevcuttur. Akut hastal›k için hastaneye yat›r›lanlar-da bu oran %26'ya ve bak›m evinde kalan ve uzun süreli bak›m alanlarda %30-60'lara ç›kar.…”