老年人營養風險篩選工具之比較

Background: According to a report by the Ministry of the Interior, R.O.C. (Taiwan) in 2019, the elderly aged of 65 years in Taiwan had reached 14.62% of the population, and so Taiwan has officially become an aged society. The Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan in 2014～2016 (2014-2016 NAHSIT) also reported that the elderly had an imbalanced dietary intake from six food groups. Aim: By comparing the nutritional risk screening tools for the elderly in different countries, we attempted to understand commonly used nutritional screening tools and screening questions in these questionnaires as a reference for future development or revision of nutritional risk screening tools for the elderly in Taiwan. Methods: In order to understand the nutritional status of the elderly, this study collected nutritional risk screening tools from Taiwan, Japan, China, the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia through literature reviews. We also analyzed anthropometric measurements, food intake, mobility, diseases, health status, and neuropsychological problems according to different nutritional risk screening tools. Results: The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), the MNA Short Form (MNA-SF), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) are commonly used in those countries. Questions about the body weight and food intake were most common. Conclusions: The most commonly used screening questions among international nutritional risk screening tools for the elderly were about body weight and food intake. An analysis of nutritional risk screening tools will be helpful in developing a suitable nutritional risk screening tool for Taiwan and therefore may provide appropriate nutritional support to the elderly with nutritional risks.