Validation of Malnutrition Screening Tools in Liver Cirrhosis

• Main Authors: Julia Traub, Ina Bergheim, Angela Horvath, Vanessa Stadlbauer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
• Series: Nutrients
• Subjects: malnutrition; liver cirrhosis; screening; assessment
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/5/1306

Malnutrition in liver cirrhosis is frequently underestimated. To determine if a patient is at risk of malnutrition, several screening tools have been established. However, most of them are not validated for patients with liver cirrhosis. Therefore, we compared the RFH-NPT (Royal Free Hospital Nutritional Prioritizing Tool) as the validated gold standard for malnutrition screening in cirrhosis patients with GMS (Graz Malnutrition Screening), NRS-2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening) and MNA-SF (Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form). Based on common validity criteria for screening tools, only the MNA-SF showed fair correlation (12/15 points) with the RFH-NPT, whereas NRS-2002 and GMS performed worse (6/15 points). Taken together, our results suggest that NRS-2002 and GMS are not suitable for screening of malnutrition in cirrhosis patients. A cirrhosis-specific screening tool like RFH-NPT should be used to assess malnutrition and to identify those at risk of malnutrition.