Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form

The Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF) is a rapid, six-item screening tool for identifying undernutrition and its risk in older adults. It was developed by Laurence Rubenstein, John Harker, Antoni Salva, Yves Guigoz, and Bruno Vellas, and reported in 2001, as a streamlined version of the longer 18-item Mini Nutritional Assessment that retained the diagnostic accuracy of the full instrument while taking only a few minutes to administer. The six items cover decline in food intake, recent weight loss, mobility, psychological stress or acute disease, neuropsychological problems, and body mass index or calf circumference, summing to a score from 0 to 14. The total classifies a patient as having normal nutritional status, being at risk of malnutrition, or being malnourished, and a low score signals the need for fuller nutritional assessment or intervention. Because it is fast, requires no laboratory tests, and uses calf circumference when height and weight are unavailable, it is well suited to busy geriatric, community, and long-term-care settings. The MNA-SF has become one of the most widely used nutritional screens in older-adult care worldwide.