Nutritional status of elderly patients previously ill with COVID-19: Assessment with nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and mini nutritional assessment (MNA-sf)

Ghalia Shamlan; Mohammed Albreiki; Hadeel O Almasoudi; Lina A Alshehri; Mazen M Ghaith; Abdulrahman S Alharthi; Fadilah S Aleanizy

doi:10.1016/j.jiph.2023.11.005

Nutritional status of elderly patients previously ill with COVID-19: Assessment with nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and mini nutritional assessment (MNA-sf)

J Infect Public Health. 2024 Feb;17(2):372-377. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2023.11.005. Epub 2023 Nov 7.

Authors

Ghalia Shamlan¹, Mohammed Albreiki², Hadeel O Almasoudi³, Lina A Alshehri³, Mazen M Ghaith⁴, Abdulrahman S Alharthi⁵, Fadilah S Aleanizy⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Nutrition, College of food science and agriculture, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: Shamlana@ksu.du.sa.
² Center for Biotechnology, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Biosecurity Affairs Division, Innovation and Development Sector, Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address: m.albreiki1987@gmail.com.
³ Department of Human Nutrition, College of food science and agriculture, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 7607, Al Abdeyah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Animal Production, College of food science and agriculture, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Pharmacutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 38217931
DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2023.11.005

Abstract

Background: Long-term effects of COVID-19 showed a wide range of symptoms. Also, it was found that older patients were five times more likely than younger patients to develop long-COVID symptoms (1). This study aimed to investigate the use of Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and the Mini Nutrition Assessment-Short Form (MNA-sf) among COVID-19 in elderly patients in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A total of (n = 159) COVID-19 elderly patients were recruited in the study; the relationship between patients' characteristics, including age, gender, Body Mass Index (BMI), infection history, vaccination and chronic disease were evaluated using NRS-2002 and MNA-sf. Multivariate logistic regression to estimate the Odd Ratio (OR) by comparing the OR of different variables between normal nutritional Status and at-risk and Cohen's kappa (κ) coefficient was assessed to analyse the agreement between both tools.

Results: MNA-sf showed a positive association between age and malnutrition risk ≥ 66 years old P = 0.035. Both tools showed a negative association between BMI (P < 0.001 and P = 0.046), respectively and vaccination (P = 0.002 and P = 0.01), respectively, with risk for malnutrition. There was no significant association between Diabetes (DM) and malnutrition risk, but elderly Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) were at malnutrition risk using the NRS- 2002 tool P = 0.003. Inversely, people infected six months or more before malnutrition assessment have a lower risk of malnutrition P = 0.05.

Conclusions: Both tools were valuable and practical tools for screening elderly people with COVID-19 who are at nutritional risk and those in need of additional nutritional intervention. Further research needed to be applied in the relationship between nutritional status during and post-infectious disease for elderly people using cross-sectional and intervention studies in order to prevent malnutrition complications in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: COVID-19; Elderly; Malnutrition; Mini Nutritional Assessment–Short Form (MNA-sf); Nutritional Risk Screening–2002 (NRS-2002).

MeSH terms

Aged
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Malnutrition* / complications
Malnutrition* / diagnosis
Malnutrition* / epidemiology
Nutrition Assessment
Nutritional Status
Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
Risk Assessment