Nutritional form for the elderly is a reliable and valid instrument for the determination of undernutrition risk, and it is associated with health-related quality of life.
Undernutrition is a common problem associated with clinical complications such as impaired immune response, reduced muscle strength, impaired wound healing, and susceptibility to infections; therefore, it is an important treatment target to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with chronic diseases and aging. The aim of the present study was to apply a reliable and valid instrument for the determination of undernutrition risk in an in-hospital patient population and to describe possible associations between risk of undernutrition and some aspects of health-related quality of life in patients with chronic diseases. Fifty-six adult patients with different chronic diseases were interviewed with NUFFE questionnaire and the EQ-5D. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Reliability and validity of the NUFFE instrument was tested, and its correlation with EQ-5D was calculated. Euro-Qol scores correlated significantly with the total NUFFE scores and with the items constructing the most important factor of the instrument, explaining 53.74% of its variance. Nutritional form for the elderly was shown to be a reliable instrument in the study group because its internal consistency measured by Cronbach alpha was 0.62, and the item-total score correlations were significant for the half of the items. Criterion-related validity, concurrent validity, and construct validity of NUFFE were established. We have shown that impaired level of health-related quality of life is an important determinant of risk for undernutrition. Nutritional form for the elderly is an appropriate instrument to estimate undernutrition risk in a general, in-hospital patient population with various chronic diseases and to identify "at risk" patients who may benefit from professional dietary interventions to reduce undernutrition-related complications.
Gombos
Tímea
T
IIIrd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1125 Budapest, Hungary. tgombos@gmail.com
Kertész
Krisztina
K
Csíkos
Agnes
A
Söderhamn
Ulrika
U
Söderhamn
Olle
O
Prohászka
Zoltán
Z
D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*