title: Nutritional screening in community dwelling older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to test whether a combination of validated tools, one for each of five leading nutritional risk factors, could predict unintentional weight loss in community dwelling older adults.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Non-invasive, easily administered nutritional screening tools for community dwelling older adults are few and those that are available are problematic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Convenience samples of 115 adults ≥65 were interviewed. Height, weight and measures of the five nutritional risk factors were collected at interviews 6 months apart.
  
  
  METHODS
  Repeated measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  91 subjects completing T2 were largely white (95.6%), female (69%), well educated and in good health. Multiple regression was conducted with unintentional weight loss as the dependent variable and depression (the GDS-SF), the Lubben Social Networking Scale, food security, food intake and Independent Activities of Daily Living as the predictor variables. The regression model was statistically significant (F (5, 85) = 0.30852, P = 0.003) with an adjusted r(2) of 0.137.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Five validated tools can be administered by nurses or non-professionals to screen for nutritional risk factors leading to unintentional weight loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early screening has the potential to identify either nutritional risk or nutritional decline in older adults.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA. bcallen@utk.edu
authors.forename: Bonnie L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Callen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015431:Weight Loss