Nutritional Screening Tools Show Correlation in Patients With Parkinson Disease

In patients with Parkinson disease, scores on the Geriatric Nutrition Risk Index (GNRI) correlated positively, although not significantly, with Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire scores, according to study results published in Nutritional Neuroscience.

“The symptoms associated with Parkinson disease may lead to reduced food consumption and in turn, malnutrition. It is therefore important to apply a reliable nutrition screening tool to evaluate the nutritional status of individuals with Parkinson disease,” wrote researchers from Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey.

The study aimed to compare the MNA and GNRI for the assessment of nutritional status in patients with Parkinson disease. Some 89 patients older than 60 years were assessed via face-to-face interviews, the MNA-Long Form (MNA-LF), and the GNRI.

Average GNRI scores were significantly lower in patients with malnutrition compared with patients at risk of malnutrition or with no malnutrition per the MNA-LF, according to the study.

Researchers also observed the malnutrition rate detected by GNRI was lower than the rate detected by the MNA-LF in outpatients.

“This is the first study to research the nutritional status of individuals with Parkinson disease using the GNRI,” the authors wrote. “Similar studies are recommended to determine the usability of GNRI on inpatients.”

Reference:
Yılmaz M, Atuk Kahraman T, Kurtbeyoğlu E, Konyalıgil Öztürk N, Gültekin M. The evaluation of the nutritional status in Parkinson's disease: geriatric nutritional risk index comparison with mini nutritional assessment questionnaire. Nutr Neurosci. Published online January 3, 2023. doi:10.1080/1028415X.2022.2161129