VALIDATION OF A COMBINED SARCOPENIA AND NUTRITION SCREENING TOOL FOR COMMUNITY-LIVING OLDER ADULTS
2024

Screening Tool for Malnutrition in Older Adults

Sample size: 103 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Saffel-Shrier Susan, Covington Amy, Wang Jing

Primary Institution: University of Utah

Hypothesis

Combining two screening tools for malnutrition and sarcopenia will yield higher diagnostic accuracy than using each tool individually.

Conclusion

The combined screening tool accurately diagnosed malnutrition in 84.4% of participants, which is higher than the individual tools.

Supporting Evidence

  • The combined SCREEN II plus SARC-F accurately diagnosed malnutrition in 84.4% of participants.
  • The individual diagnoses were 59% by SCREEN II and 54% by SARC-F.
  • The internal consistency reliability of the combined tool was satisfactory with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.73.
  • The convergent validity was assessed with a Phi coefficient of 0.67.

Takeaway

Using two tests together helps doctors find out if older people are not getting enough nutrition better than using just one test.

Methodology

The study compared the diagnostic accuracy of a combined screening tool against the Nutrition-Focused Physical Exam.

Participant Demographics

Community-living older adults.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1093/geroni/igae098.2835

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