Recording the exact weight and height should represent a standard practice for all inpatients, as they significantly impact on patients' care, drug dosing and nutritional assessment.
However, these measurements are recorded in a small percentage of inpatients and, even worse, they often are estimated by nurses or Physicians, or self-reported by patients. This error may contribute to a wrong nutritional assessment, since the body mass index (BMI) is one of the parameters included in some of the most used nutritional scores.
In this study the investigators will perform a nutritional assessement, at hospital admission, in a group of inpatients by the mini-nutritional assessment short form (MNA-SF), by means of estimated, self-reported and exact body weight measures.
Moreover, in those subjects with a malnutrition diagnosis (by MNA-SF) the investigators will perform bioimpedence analysis and will evaluate a series of anthropometric measurements offering insights into body composition and distribution of fat and muscle, such as calf, waist and hip circumference.
Patients of both sexes with free and informed consent.
Age 65 or older (in line with the World Health Organization definition and the recommendations of the ESPEN guidelines for geriatric nutritional assessment).
Inability or unwillingness to provide informed consent.
Severe cognitive impairment.
Language or communication barriers.
Clinical or logistical conditions that make objective measurement of weight and/or height impossible (e.g., non-transferable bedridden status, clinical instability, risk to the patient).
Single group
Anthropometric and nutritional assessment
Diagnostic testCollection of self-reported weight and height, the exact measurement of weight and height with certified instruments, the administration of the MNA-SF questionnaire and the detection of body circumferences
To assess the impact of discrepancies between estimated weight values reported in the medical record and those exactly measured
Comparison among estimated (by nurses), self-reported (by patients) and exact body weight measures in kilograms (by nurses and physicians).
To assess the impact of discrepancies between estimated height values reported in the medical record and those exactly measured
Comparison among estimated (by nurses), self-reported (by patients) and exact height measures in centimeters (by nurses and physicians).
Differences in MNA-SF scores
Comparison among MNA-SF scores obtained using estimated, self-reported and exact weight measures in kilograms.
Number of patients with a diagnosis of sarcopenia by both bioimpedance and anthropometric analysis
Evaluation of the diagnosis of sarcopenia through the comparison between bioimpedance analysis (measured in %) and anthropometric measurements (calf, hip, waist, measured in cm).
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