The New Model for Assessing Nutritional Status in Hospital in-Patients

We assessed the nutritional status of hospital inpatients using a traditional nutritional assessment and the Mini Nutrition Assessment (MNA), which provides a single, rapid assessment of nutritional status. The two nutritional assessment methods were compared in order to establish a new model for assessing the nutritional status of hospital inpatients. We evaluated the nutritional status using the MNA in 877 patients admitted from January 2002 to October 2002, among which 627 completed assessments including serum albumin levels were obtained for analysis. We took 10 min to complete the assessnent of nutritional status in a patient using the MNA, which is a relatively short time compared to traditional nutritional assessment methods. Results of the study indicate that there was a significant correlation between BMI and MNA scores. The same result was observed between MNA scores and serum albumin levels. These results suggest that MNA is a convenient method for assessing the nutrition status of inpatients. It can serve as a useful tool for screeing and provides proper nutrition support for patients before obvious weight loss is observed.