Undernutrition Risk Assessment in Elderly People: Available Tools in Clinical Practice

Abstract

Undernutrition is a public health problem all over the world. More than 30 million people are currently affected by undernutrition in Europe, mainly hospitalized or elderly people. Undernutrition has several medical consequences and in the elderly can be associated with adverse clinical symptoms, contributing to frailty, morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality. These medical situations highlight the importance of an early detection and diagnosis, the objective being to prevent or treat undernutrition. This is why the implementation of a complete nutritional assessment in clinical practice is important. Nutritional screenings are essential tools to identify patients that will likely benefit from nutrition therapy. There are currently several screening methods to identify nutritional risk or malnutrition. However, the lack of a standard has aroused controversy about the best tool to use. Our objective is to describe the screening tools available for the elderly.