Usefulness of Nutrition Screening of the Elderly

Abstract

Nutrition assessment is not a component of the routine health screening of the elderly, despite the important role that nutrition plays in the health status of the elderly population. Instruments are available to assess physical, cognitive, emotional, and social functions of the elderly, but each of these focuses on one aspect of health and does not necessarily reflect overall health status. More comprehensive tools are available to detect risk factors; however, they rely heavily on home visits by health professionals and do not include nutrition assessment. Before 1989, measures that included a nutrition component were indices to predict post‐surgical outcomes of hospitalized patients and were not aimed at screening community‐living people. The Nutrition Screening Initiative was formed as a multidisciplinary effort to promote nutrition screening and awareness and to incorporate nutrition into the healthcare system. The tools developed by the Nutrition Screening Initiative for use by the lay public and by health professionals include: the Determine Your Nutritional Health Checklist, which is an awareness and educational tool that can be self‐administered; a Level I Screen, which is a basic nutrition screen designed for use by social service and health professionals; and a Level II Screen, which provides more specific diagnostic information on nutrition status and is administered by health and medical professionals. Manuals were developed to assist the incorporation of screening tools into medical practice, health maintenance organizations, and home care agencies. Nutrition assessment and intervention are worthwhile endeavors that may add years of independent living and decrease medical expenditure for the elderly.

Nutritional screening and assessment tools for older adults: literature review

“…1992). The first tool (DETERMINE), focuses on increasing awareness of nutritional risk in the community (Sahyoun 1999), and can be used by older adults or their carers. The second tool is for use by healthcare professionals and is more extensive, featuring more risk factors for malnutrition.…”

“…The third tool enables a comprehensive nutritional assessment and, as it requires the input of a dietitian or doctor, is not described in Table 1. The development and continuing evaluation of these tools is described by Sahyoun (1999).…”

“…These aimed to increase awareness of poor nutritional status and to improve standards for the identification of poor nutritional status in older adults (White et al 1992). The first tool (DETERMINE), focuses on increasing awareness of nutritional risk in the community (Sahyoun 1999), and can be used by older adults or their carers. The second tool is for use by healthcare professionals and is more extensive, featuring more risk factors for malnutrition.…”

Talking to Patients About Food Insecurity

“…Surgeon General's Workshop on Health Promotion and Aging and Healthy People 2000, identified poverty, social isolation, and inappropriate food intake as three of the seven general risk factors associated with poor nutrition and health status. The NSI developed a “Determine Your Nutritional Health Checklist” as a first‐level (10‐statement) screening tool for behaviors associated with these risk factors 11 . After eliciting basic demographic and dietary background information, a health provider might ask the patient whether the statements, listed below in Table 8, apply to him or her.…”