A comparison of nutritional screening tools in the prediction of post-operative infectious and wound complications in the elderly patients undergoing abdominal operations

Abstract

Objective: To compare four nutritional screening tools - the Short Form Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA-SF), the Nutrition Risk Classification (NRC), the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), and the Nutrition Risk Score (NRS) - in the prediction of post-operative infectious and wound complications in elderly patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Patients and Method: During the nine-month period from April 2002 to December 2002 nutritional screening was performed on 190 patients aged 60 years or over who underwent major abdominal surgery. Each patient was classified as either at risk or not at risk of malnutrition. This classification, for each screening tool, was tested for association with the occurrence of post-operative infectious and wound complications. Each screening tool was calculated and compared under the area of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Result and Conclusion: The NRC classification was the best prediction for the occurrence of post-operative infectious and wound complications in elderly surgical patients.