Table 2.

Common nutrition screening tools for malnutrition.

Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) Short Form*	A. Has food intake declined over the past 3 months due to appetite, digestive problems, chewing, or swallowing difficulties? Severe, moderate, no decrease
	B. Weight loss during the last 3 months? >3 kg, 1–3 kg, none
	C. Mobility: bed/chair, out of bed, goes out
	D. Has suffered psychological stress or acute disease in the past 3 months? Yes/no
	E. Neuropsychological problems? Severe, mild, none
	F. Body mass index (BMI) or calf circumference (CC): BMI <19, 19–21, 21–23, >23. CC <31 cm or >31 cm
Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA)£	1. Height and unintended weight loss over 1 and 3 months: yes/no
	2. Food intake: unchanged, more or less than usual
	3. Symptoms present in last 2 weeks: check boxes
	4. Functional capacity over last month: normal, up or in bed
	5. Primary disease diagnosis:
	6. Physical loss of fat, muscle wasting, or edema
Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST)#	Have you been eating poorly because of decreased appetite? Yes/No
	Have you lost weight recently without trying? Yes/No
Simplified nutritional appetite questionnaire (SNAQ)¥	Patient answers 4 items:
	1. My appetite is:
	2. When I eat I feel full after:
	3. Food tastes:
	4. Normally I eat ____ meals per day
SCREEN IIS	17-item tool with an 8 question abbreviated version
Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)a	BMI
	Weight loss over 3–6 months
	Anorexia for periods of 5 days or longer due to disease
Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS)ß	BMI
	% weight loss over 1–3 months
	Change in food intake in preceding week
	Disease severity rating

^*Vellas B, Guigoz Y, Garry PJ, et al. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and its use in grading the nutritional state of elderly patients. Nutrition 1999; 15:116. Available at: www.mna-elderly.com

^£Thoresen L, Fjeldstad I, Krogstad K, et al. Nutritional status of patients with advanced cancer: the value of using the subjective global assessment of nutritional status as a screening tool. Palliat Med 2002; 16:33.

^#Ferguson M, Capra S, Bauer J, Banks M. Development of a valid and reliable malnutrition screening tool for adult acute hospital patients. Nutrition 1999; 15:458.

^¥Wilson, MG, Thomas, PR, Rubenstein, LZ, et al. Appetite assessment: simple appetite questionnaire predicts weight loss in community-dwelling adults and nursing home residents. Am J Clin Nutr 2005; 82:1074. Copyright © 2005 American Society for Nutrition.

^STools can be purchased from Professor Heather Keller, RD, PhD. Contact hkeller@uoguelph.ca

^aStratton RJ, King CL, Stroud MA, et al. ‘Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool’ predicts mortality and length of hospital stay in acutely ill elderly. Br J Nutr 2006; 95:325.

^ßSkipper A, Ferguson M, Thompson K, et al. Nutrition screening tools: an analysis of the evidence. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 2012; 36:292.