The Use of Self-MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) for Nutritional Status Measurement of Elderly Females in a Community-based Health Care

Abstract

Objective. This study aimed to evaluate the use of Indonesian Self-MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) as a modest and simple tool to screen the risk of malnutrition in the elderly in the community-based care setting.

Methods. This formative study involved 20 females, aged 60 and above, who were chosen from a local community health post-elderly program in Depok-West Java, Indonesia. Self-MNA was administered by a health cadre and compared to Full MNA administered by a trained nutritionist as the gold standard.

Results. All respondents were female, the mean age was 65.35 years (SD = 4.71), the mean BMI was 24.34 (SD = 2.87), and the mean, median, and mode of the Self-MNA score were 11.6, 12, and 13, respectively. While for the Full MNA, the mean, median, and mode score were 25.35, 25.50, and 22.50, respectively. The sensitivity of Self-MNA compared to Full MNA was 100%, while the specificity was 78.9%. Linear regression test between Self-MNA and MNA showed the r value was 0.675 showing a moderate correlation between Self-MNA and full MNA. The total Healthy Eating Index (HEI) of the respondents was 62.25 or included in the category that needed improvement.

Conclusion. Self-MNA is a simple tool that can be administered independently by health cadre or family members, and has shown high level of inter tools reliability and validity compared to the full MNA as a standard. Thus, further development of app-based Self-MNA for elderly nutritional status monitoring maybe feasible.