Nutritional status of elderly patients previously ill with COVID-19: Assessment with nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and mini nutritional assessment (MNA-sf)

Background: Long-term effects of COVID-19 showed a wide range of symptoms. Also, it was found that older patients were five times more likely than younger patients to develop long-COVID symptoms (1). This study aimed to investigate the use of Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and the Mini Nutrition Assessment–Short Form (MNA-sf) among COVID-19 in elderly patients in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A total of (n = 159) COVID-19 elderly patients were recruited in the study; the relationship between patients' characteristics, including age, gender, Body Mass Index (BMI), infection history, vaccination and chronic disease were evaluated using NRS-2002 and MNA-sf. Multivariate logistic regression to estimate the Odd Ratio (OR) by comparing the OR of different variables between normal nutritional Status and at-risk and Cohen's kappa (κ) coefficient was assessed to analyse the agreement between both tools. Results: MNA-sf showed a positive association between age and malnutrition risk ≥ 66 years old P = 0.035. Both tools showed a negative association between BMI (P