title: Frequency of malnutrition in older adults: a multinational perspective using the mini nutritional assessment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide pooled data on the prevalence of malnutrition in elderly people as evaluated using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective pooled analysis of previously published datasets.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital, rehabilitation, nursing home, community.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four thousand five hundred seven people (75.2% female) with a mean age of 82.3.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prevalence of malnutrition in the combined database and in the four settings was examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four data sets with information on full MNA classification from researchers from 12 countries were submitted. In the combined database, the prevalence of malnutrition was 22.8%, with considerable differences between the settings (rehabilitation, 50.5%; hospital, 38.7%; nursing home, 13.8%; community, 5.8%). In the combined database, the "at risk" group had a prevalence of 46.2%. Consequently, approximately two-thirds of study participants were at nutritional risk or malnourished.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MNA has gained worldwide acceptance and shows a high prevalence of malnutrition in different settings, except for the community. Because of its specific geriatric focus, the MNA should be recommended as the basis for nutritional evaluation in older people.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany. dr-kaiser@web.de
authors.forename: Matthias J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.forename: Jürgen M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rämsch
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Uter
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guigoz
authors.forename: Tommy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cederholm
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Patricia S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Anthony
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Charlton
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maggio
authors.forename: Alan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vellas
authors.forename: Cornel C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Sieber
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology