Newsletter

[ Vol. 9 No. 2 ] (May - August 2008 )
Correlation of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment and the Tinetti Gait and Balance Scores among patients admitted at the Geriatric Center (St. Luke's Med

Rosary M. Amane¹, Eliza Mei P. Francisco²*, Migule A. Ramos Jr.¹, Eduardo Rommel S. Poblete^1
1Geriatric Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center, ²Nutrition Support Team. St. Luke’s Medical Center

OBJECTIVES: To determine the correlation between the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and Tinetti Gait and Balance scores among patients admitted at the St. Luke’s Medical Center (Geriatric Center)

SETTING AND DESIGN: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study conducted from May 1, 2005 to February 28, 2006 using the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and Tinetti Gait and Balance Scores from the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) questionnaires

METHODS: A total of 103 patients were admitted at the Acute Geriatric Ward. A Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment was conducted on each patient by the Geriatric Medicine Fellows assigned in the Unit. The MNA and Tinetti Gait and Balance Scores of 72 patients included in the study were retrieved and recorded. Results were entered and analyzed using MINITAB. Selected characteristics of the geriatric patients were described using mean, standard deviation frequency and percentage. Inferential statistics included 2-sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Significance was determined by a p-value < 0.005.

RESULTS: The correlation coefficient was only 0.32. Although the strength of the positive relationship is not high, the correlation between the MNA and Tinetti Gait and Balance Scores is significant (p=0.006). This suggests that a higher MNA score is associated with a higher Tinetti Gait and Balance score.

CONCLUSION: The Mini-Nutritional Assessment tool remains an important validated clinical tool to assess the nutritional status of the elderly. Since malnutrition in the older population is still largely an unrecognized problem in the acute care hospital, it should therefore be emphasized because of its demonstrated benefits.

From   
The 12^th PENSA Congress
October 18-20 2007, Century Park Hotel. Manila, Philippines 
Page: 56