title: Nutritional screening of older home-dwelling Norwegians: a comparison between two instruments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is important to obtain knowledge about the prevalence of nutritional risk and associated factors among older home-dwelling people in order to be able to meet nutritional challenges in this group in the future and to plan appropriate interventions. The aim of this survey was to investigate the prevalence of home-dwelling older people at nutritional risk and to identify associated factors using two different nutritional screening instruments as self-report instruments.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study had a cross-sectional design. A postal questionnaire, including the Norwegian versions of the Nutritional Form for the Elderly (NUFFE-NO) and Mini Nutritional Assessment - Short Form (MNA-SF), background variables, and health-related questions was sent to a randomized sample of 6033 home-dwelling older people in southern Norway. A total of 2106 (34.9%) subjects were included in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When using the NUFFE-NO and MNA-SF, 426 (22.3%) and 258 (13.5%) older persons, respectively, were identified to be at nutritional risk. The risk of undernutrition increased with age. Several predictors for being at risk of undernutrition, including chronic disease/handicap and receiving family help, as well as protective factors, including sufficient food intake and having social contacts, were identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health professionals must be aware of older people's vulnerability to risk of undernutrition, perform screening, and have a plan for preventing under-nutrition. For that purpose, MNA-SF and NUFFE-NO can be suggested for screening older people living at home.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Caring Research-Southern Norway, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway. ulrika.soderhamn@uia.no
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Söderhamn
authors.forename: Bjørg
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundsli
authors.forename: Olle
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Söderhamn
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires