• A C Tsai, C-S Ho, and M-C Chang.
• Human Nutrition Program, Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. atsai@umich.edu
• J Nutr Health Aging. 2008 Apr 1; 12 (4): 239-43.

ObjectiveThe study was to determine whether the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) could be used as a tool to effectively identify malnourished elderly in a non-Caucasian population.DesignThe study was a part of a population-based multistage random sample survey.SettingIn-home face-to-face interviews.ParticipantsRandomly selected 1583 men and 1307 women, 65 years or older, in Taiwan.MeasurementsAssessing nutritional risk status of participants with the Mini Nutritional Assessment.ResultsThe prevalence of malnutrition is 1.7% in elderly men and 2.4% in elderly women, 65 years or older. The proportion at risk of malnutrition is 13.1%.ConclusionTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to apply the MNA to estimate the prevalence of malnutrition in the elderly in a nationally representative sample. Results suggest that the MNA can identify malnourished elderly in a non-Caucasian population. However, it appears that the functionality of the instrument can be improved by adapting population-specific anthropometric cutoff standards.

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