Nutrition and health risks in the elderly: the nutrition screening initiative.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES. The Nutrition Screening Initiative is a national collaborative effort committed to the identification and treatment of nutritional problems in older persons. METHODS. A 14-item checklist of characteristics associated with nutritional status was administered to a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries, aged 70 years and older, in New England. Regression analysis was used to derive item weights that would predict poor nutrient intakes and low perceived health status. Sensitivity and specificity values were reviewed to define low, moderate, and high nutritional risk scores. RESULTS. A revised checklist containing 10 yes/no items was adopted. Scores of 6 or more points defined persons at high nutritional risk. Twenty-four percent of the Medicare population was estimated to be at high nutritional risk according to the checklist. Among those in the high-risk group, 56% perceived their health to be "fair" or "poor" and 38% had dietary intakes below 75% of the recommended dietary allowances for three or more nutrients. CONCLUSIONS. The Nutrition Screening Initiative Checklist is a brief, easily scored instrument that can accurately identify noninstitutionalized older persons at risk for low nutrient intake and health problems.

Evaluating the DETERMINE Your Nutritional Health Checklist and the Mini Nutritional Assessment as tools to identify nutritional problems in elderly Europeans

“…So far data on the sensitivity and speci®city of the NSI checklist in relationship to nutritional status items have been lacking, but given its awareness character, over-referral has previously been a matter of concern (Rush, 1993). The speci®city of 85% reported by Posner et al (1993) in relation to low nutrient intake and health problems was considered overstated because it was based on the sample used to develop the NSI scores. Also, the speci®city in relation to weight loss in the present analyses might be somewhat biased, as weight change was one of the items in the checklist.…”

“…The DETERMINE Your Nutritional Health Checklist (NSI checklist) has been developed as part of the US Nutrition Screening Initiative, a collaborative effort between the American Dietetic Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Council on the Aging, Inc. (Dwyer, 1994;Posner et al, 1993). The NSI checklist is the ®rst step in a two-tiered approach to screening and assessment.…”

“…The checklist is not meant to be a clinical diagnostic tool but should predict overall perceived health status and identify persons whose estimated nutrient intakes fall below the Recommended Dietary Allowances. So far it has only been validated in the population used to assign scores to the checklist (Posner et al, 1993).…”

Leukocyte telomere length: Effects of schizophrenia, age, and gender

“…Other self-rated scales included the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al, 1983), the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) (Hays et al, 1993), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Craig et al, 2003;Faulkner et al, 2006), and the Nutritional Screening Initiative Checklist (Posner et al, 1993). Antipsychotic medication daily dosages were converted to Defined Daily Doses (DDD) (Organization, 2003;Sweileh et al, 2014).…”

Adaptação transcultural para o idioma português do método de triagem nutricional Determine your nutritional health®para idosos domiciliados

“…O método de triagem nutricional, Determine Your Nutritional Health ® (DNH), traduzido para português como "Determine sua saúde nutricional", foi desenvolvido pelo NSI, nos Estados Unidos (EUA), citado numa revisão sistemática da literatura como uma opção para realização de triagem nutricional de idosos, sem a necessidade de realização de mensurações corporais e indicado em outro estudo como uma alternativa preventiva que pode ser utilizada, por profissionais de saúde, com a finalidade de alertar os idosos, quanto à sua condição nutricional, para assim procurarem ajuda especializada [3][4][5] .…”