Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jan 29;15(3):683.
doi: 10.3390/nu15030683.

The Assessment of the Risk of Malnutrition (Undernutrition) in Stroke Patients

Olivia Di Vincenzo  1 , Maria Luisa Eliana Luisi  2 , Paola Alicante  1 , Giada Ballarin  3 , Barbara Biffi  2 , Chiara Francesca Gheri  2 , Luca Scalfi  1   4
Affiliations
Review

The Assessment of the Risk of Malnutrition (Undernutrition) in Stroke Patients

Olivia Di Vincenzo et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Malnutrition is common in stroke patients, as it is associated with neurological and cognitive impairment as well as clinical outcomes. Nutritional screening is a process with which to categorize the risk of malnutrition (i.e., nutritional risk) based on validated tools/procedures, which need to be rapid, simple, cost-effective, and reliable in the clinical setting. This review focuses on the tools/procedures used in stroke patients to assess nutritional risk, with a particular focus on their relationships with patients' clinical characteristics and outcomes. Different screening tools/procedures have been used in stroke patients, which have shown varying prevalence in terms of nutritional risk (higher in rehabilitation units) and significant relationships with clinical outcomes in the short- and long term, such as infection, disability, and mortality. Indeed, there have been few attempts to compare the usefulness and reliability of the different tools/procedures. More evidence is needed to identify appropriate approaches to assessing nutritional risk among stroke patients in the acute and sub-acute phase of disease or during rehabilitation; to evaluate the impact of nutritional treatment on the risk of malnutrition during hospital stay or rehabilitation unit; and to include nutritional screening in well-defined nutritional care protocols.

Keywords: CONUT; GNRI; MNA; MUST; NRS-2002; PNI; malnutrition; nutritional screening; rehabilitation; stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Cederholm T., Barazzoni R., Austin P., Ballmer P., Biolo G., Bischoff S.C., Compher C., Correia I., Higashiguchi T., Holst M., et al. ESPEN Guidelines on Definitions and Terminology of Clinical Nutrition. Clin. Nutr. 2017;36:49–64. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2016.09.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Serón-Arbeloa C., Labarta-Monzón L., Puzo-Foncillas J., Mallor-Bonet T., Lafita-López A., Bueno-Vidales N., Montoro-Huguet M. Malnutrition Screening and Assessment. Nutrients. 2022;14:2392. doi: 10.3390/nu14122392. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Feigin V.L., Stark B.A., Johnson C.O., Roth G.A., Bisignano C., Abady G.G., Abbasifard M., Abbasi-Kangevari M., Abd-Allah F., Abedi V., et al. Global, Regional, and National Burden of Stroke and Its Risk Factors, 1990–2019: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet Neurol. 2021;20:795–820. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(21)00252-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sabbouh T., Torbey M.T. Malnutrition in Stroke Patients: Risk Factors, Assessment, and Management. Neurocrit. Care. 2018;29:374–384. doi: 10.1007/s12028-017-0436-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huppertz V., Guida S., Holdoway A., Strilciuc S., Baijens L., Schols J.M.G.A., van Helvoort A., Lansink M., Muresanu D.F. Impaired Nutritional Condition After Stroke from the Hyperacute to the Chronic Phase: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front. Neurol. 2022;12:780080. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.780080. - DOI - PMC - PubMed