PD047 - EVALUATION OF THE SHORT NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (SNAQ) FOR IDENTIFYING MALNUTRITION IN REHABILITATION PATIENTS

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PD047

EVALUATION OF THE SHORT NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (SNAQ) FOR IDENTIFYING MALNUTRITION IN REHABILITATION PATIENTS

P. Hizmi1,*, R. Dankner2,3, G. Sabo2

1Nutrition Department, Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital, 2Reuth Research and Development Institute, Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital, 3Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

 

Rationale: Malnutrition is highly prevalent in rehabilitation settings, leading to impaired functional recovery and increased mortality. This study evaluates the validity of the Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ) compared to the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria for identifying malnourished patients in a rehabilitation ward.

Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, 112 rehabilitation patients (aged 55–75) were assessed. Malnutrition was diagnosed using the GLIM criteria (reference standard), which include phenotypic criteria (weight loss, low Body Mass Index [BMI], and reduced muscle mass) and etiologic criteria (reduced food intake or assimilation and the presence of inflammation). SNAQ was evaluated as a screening tool. 

Results: The prevalence of malnutrition was 33% (37/112) according to GLIM. SNAQ demonstrated very low sensitivity (10.8%) but high specificity (93.3%). Approximately 89% of malnourished patients were missed by the screening tool. ROC analysis indicated poor discriminative ability (Area Under the Curve [AUC] = 0.56, p = 0.331). Logistic regression showed that a smaller calf circumference was significantly associated with false-negative results (p < 0.001). In contrast, female sex was associated with a lower likelihood of misclassification (Odds Ratio [OR] = 0.26, p = 0.018).

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Conclusion: SNAQ is not a sufficiently sensitive tool for identifying malnutrition in rehabilitation patients, as it frequently fails to detect cases driven by muscle mass loss. These findings suggest that relying solely on SNAQ may lead to significant underdiagnosis, and clinical practice should consider nutritional assessment by a Registered Dietitian for this population.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared