Comparison of malnutrition screening tests in predicting postoperative complications in elderly patients with femur fracture

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Abstract

Background
Malnutrition is an important and widespread problem in hospitalised elderly orthopaedic patients. It is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality and has been associated with an increased risk of complications. Although it is a common problem in the elderly, there is neither a universally accepted criterion for the diagnosis of malnutrition nor a screening tool accepted as the gold standard to detect patients at risk of malnutrition. There is still no consensus on which is the most recommended for screening hospitalised patients for nutritional risk. The aim of this study was to search body mass index (BMI) and commonly used nutrition screening tools to detect malnutrition and malnutrition-related complications in elderly femur fracture patients. One hundred nineteen patients of the American Society of Anesthesiologists status I–IV, aged ≥ 65 years undergoing hip surgery, were included in the study.
Results
Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF) and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) have a moderate agreement in the diagnosis of malnutrition. There was a statistically significant relationship between malnutrition and the presence of complications according to MNA-SF. But there was no statistically significant relationship between malnutrition and the presence of complications according to SGA.
Conclusions
According to MNA-SF, there was no significant relationship between malnutrition and the presence of postoperative complications. However, MNA-SF has higher sensitivity than predicting postoperative complications according to SGA. Although both tests can be used for screening malnutrition in elderly patients, complications can be more predicted with the MNA-SF test.

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