Comparison of Three Nutritional Screening tools in Older Patients with Urgent Hospitalization for Various Respiratory Diseases

Objective Malnutrition upon admission is strongly associated with poor clinical outcomes in geriatric patients. However, studies evaluating the prognostic value of nutritional assessment tools for respiratory diseases that require urgent hospitalization remain limited. This study aimed to identify suitable tools for assessing nutritional status and to examine their potential as prognostic indicators. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients of ≥65 years of age who were hospitalized for respiratory disease. The nutritional status at admission was evaluated using three different screening tools: the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), and Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI). Results A total of 152 consecutive patients (median age 77 years) were included in the analysis. Thirty-five patients died during hospitalization. The proportion of patients classified as having nutritional risk was similar across the MNA-SF, PNI, and GNRI (62.5%, 67.2%, and 61.2%, respectively). Significant differences in in-hospital mortality were observed between the normal and at-risk groups when stratified by MNA-SF and GNRI, but not by PNI. In multivariable logistical analyses, after adjusting for the confounding factors of age, sex, smoking history, MNA-SF (<11) and GNRI (<92) were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for MNA-SF in predicting in-hospital mortality was significantly greater than that for the GNRI. Moreover, patients with MNA-SF scores of <11 had significantly lower survival rates than those with normal scores. Conclusion Among the three tools, the MNA-SF demonstrated the strongest prognostic value for in-hospital mortality in older adults with acute respiratory illnesses.