Mini nutritional assessment and screening scores are associated with nutritional indicators in elderly people with pressure ulcers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) or MNA Screening Form and standard indicators of nutritional status in male elders with pressure ulcers.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. MNA and MNA Screening Form scores were related to nutritional indicators using the Pearson correlation.

SUBJECTS/SETTING: Residents (79+/-1 years, N=23 men) of Veterans Affairs medical center nursing home care units with stage I to IV pressure ulcers were enrolled.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Correlation coefficients were obtained from correlations between the MNA or MNA Screening Form scores and biochemical and anthropometric indices of nutritional status or measures of body composition normalized for height by dividing by height in meters(2).

RESULTS: Hemoglobin (106+/-4 g/L; r=0.43, P=.0409, mean, standard error of the mean, Pearson's r, P value), hematocrit (0.32+/-0.01; r=0.44, P=.0358), body mass index (23.1+/-1.0; r=0.66, P=.0006), calf circumference (30.4+/-1.1 cm; r=0.46, P=.0286), fat-free mass index (18.3+/-0; r=0.60, P=.0063), body cell mass index (8.3+/-0.5; r=0.64, P=.0033), and fat mass index (3.7+/-0.4; r=0.50, P=.0275) positively correlated with MNA score. Serum albumin (31+/-1 g/L) and prealbumin (180+/-17 mg/L) did not correlate with MNA, but prealbumin inversely correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r=-0.52, P=.0134), a marker of inflammation. The inverse correlation between albumin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate approached statistical significance (r=-0.42, P=.0542). The MNA Screening Form showed similar correlations or lack of correlations observed with the MNA with the exception of hemoglobin and hematocrit.

CONCLUSIONS: The MNA and MNA Screening Form provide advantages over using visceral proteins in screening and assessing nutritional status of elderly people with pressure ulcers.