title: Inter-rater reliability of the Subjective Global Assessment: a systematic literature review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Malnutrition continues to be under-recognized and undertreated in the hospitalized setting. Although no "gold standard" for the diagnosis of malnutrition exists, the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) is a commonly used malnutrition assessment tool. The study aim was to explore the reporting of inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the SGA when used as a nutritional assessment tool in the published literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive literature review was performed identifying 119 articles using the SGA once exclusion criteria were applied. Articles were examined for use of IRR and the Cohen κ agreement between examiners.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The IRR of the SGA was reported in only 13% of articles where the SGA was used for nutritional assessment. The κ agreement was highest when examiners were experienced.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The IRR is rarely reported in the published literature and has not yet been reported across experience levels.
authors.affiliation: Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steenson
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vivanti
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Isenring
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D015203:Reproducibility of Results