Nutritional Assessment Flashcards
Screening
Definition
purpose
instruments
Screening: process of identifying characteristics known to be associated with nutritional problems
Purpose is to quickly identify individuals with nutritional risks –Should be easy to use, cost effective, valid, reliable, sensitive
Goal: identify individuals who might have nutritional problems, without knowing if they have them already or not
Tool: should be rapid, easy and cost-effective. Ideally- reliable, sensitive and verifiable Such a tool doesn’t exist as nothing is perfect
Assessment Definition
process of assessment of body compartments and analysis of structure and function of organ systems and their effects on metabolism
– Most often performed by dietitian
– Includes medical and dietary history, physical examination, anthropometric measurements and analysis of biochemical and functional status. Subjective and objective data
Goals of nutritional assessment
- To identify patients needing nutritional support
- To use as a baseline for monitoring and evaluating the response to our nutritional intervention plan For:
- Disease prevention
- Identify specific deficiencies and/or
- Overall malnutrition
Where is malnutrition occurrence is the most frequent?
Malnutrition is the highest at long-term care facilities It develops during the hospital stay
Why do we assess for malnutrition?
Malnutrition is associated with increased:
– Morbidity (above and beyond the disease state)
– Mortality
– Hospital length of stay
– Use of health care services and costs Malnutrition affects more than 50% of hospitalized patients
What are the 4 components we screen for during initial nutritional screening?
1) Pre-existing conditions causing nutrient loss - Malabsorption, diarrhea
2) Conditions that increase nutrient requirements - Fever, burns, sepsis, injury
3) Dietary Intake - Appetite adequate? Dietary restrictions? Intolerances? Route of feeding (oral, enteral, TPN)?
4) Weight loss
How do we assess? aka what ascpects do we look at
- Anthropometrics
- Biochemical
- Clinical - includes physical examination, and Hx
- Dietary
- Functional
Describe anthropometric data
- Established criteria (BMI) - NHANES I and II reference tables - Nutrition Canada reference tables
• <5th and >95th percentile suggest nutritional risk
Describe biochemical data
- Cut-off values, normal lab values (differ by institution) e.g. blood test, but urine, saliva etc can also be used lab values differ b/w institutions
subjective vs objective data
subjective data- affected by human factor objective data- cut clear, cannot be influenced by human factors e.g lab test
describe clinical data
- Physical signs and changes (i.e. presence or absence of edema) this data can be collected without performing any specific tests, just by looking
describe dietary data
- DRIs - harmonization of U.S. and Canada - Canada: Canadian Food Guide on Healthy Eatingànew in 2019 - U.S.: USDA food pyramidàDietary Guidelines 2016
Development of a nutritional deficiency describe stages and method used for analysis
- Tissue reserve of that nutrient will decrease. Sometimes we can measure that, sometimes we can’t e.g. vitamin A storage levels in the liver cannot be measure as it is too invasive. Some nutrients, however, can have markers e.g. ferritin is a marker of iron levels stage
5- Some nutrients are co-factors, hence the decrease in enzyme activity e.g. decrease in urea cycle in protein deficiency stages 6-8 can be observed without performing any tests-> these are the stages when the deficiency is severe
Anthropometry vs body composition
Anthropometry = body size, weight and proportions Body Composition = body compartments
What are the 2 body compartment system.? 3 compartment system?
2 major compartments: fat mass and fat free mass or 3: bone, fat and fat-free mass
What can anthropometry be used for? Cannot be used for?
- Allow to assess body size and composition using:
- Height, weight, circumferences, skinfolds, ratio
- Used to estimate nutritional status and evaluate intervention
- Body composition correlates with function
- Measurements to be done in triplicates
NOT to identify specific nutrient deficiencies
WHat are the components (%) of the body
25% - skeletal muscle
15%- viscera
5%- plasma proteins
15%- extracelular
10%- skeleton, skin
25%- fat
__ % of lean mass is water
73 % of lean mass is water
Does fat store water?
no
WHat are the methods of measuring skeletal muscle?
Arm muscle circumference (MAMC) Creatinine Height Index (CHI)
what are the markers of viscera functioning?
Albumin, TTR, RBP
What are the ways of measuring fat % in our body
Skinfold thickness Waist circumference
What are the ways of measuring height?
Standing Knee hight Arm span
describe standing method of measuring height
using a stadiometer (barefoot, heels and shoulders touching the wall, Frankfurt plane) the head should be placed according to the Frankfurt plane- line should be parallel to the floor
describe knee height method of measuring height
- If unable to stand (equations by age, sex and race p.50, Nelms) using callipers with person lying on the be, 90 degree angle at the knee. Measure form the knee to the bottom of the heel Put the measurement into the equation
describe arm span method of measuring height
nor recommended - unable to stand straight - not for Asians, African Americans, spinal deformities
Describe wrist circumference measure
used as a ratio
r = height (cm) / wrist circumference (cm)
Describe amputation adjustments
- head- 7%
- forearm- 2.3%
- wrist- 0.8%
- whole arm- 6.5%
- whole leg- 18.6%
- bottom part of the leg- 7.1%
- foot- 1.8%
Example: current weight 70 kg with arm amputation Estimated body weight: 70 kg/ (100%-6.5%) = 74.9 kg