ABSTRACT
Introduction
Malnutrition is a common and clinically significant problem among individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD), adversely affecting overall health and quality of life. The Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) is widely used for malnutrition screening in diverse clinical populations; however, its diagnostic utility in PD has not been fully established. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the MNA-SF in detecting malnutrition among patients with PD.
Methods
This prospective cross-sectional study included 42 patients with PD. Demographic characteristics, disease-related variables, and nutritional parameters were recorded. Malnutrition was diagnosed using clinical criteria based on ESPEN guidelines. All participants underwent the MNA-SF, and score distributions were compared with clinical malnutrition status. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed using ROC curve analysis.
Results
Of the 42 participants, 22 (52.4%) were women, with a mean age of 59.33 ± 10.19 years. Clinically, 23.8% were diagnosed with malnutrition. According to the MNA-SF classification, 21.4% were malnourished, 38.1% were at risk, and 40.5% had a normal nutritional status. Malnourished patients had significantly lower MNA-SF scores than those without malnutrition (p = 0.004). The MNA-SF demonstrated good diagnostic performance, with an AUC of 0.80 (95% CI: 62.1–97.9; p = 0.005). Using a cut-off score of < 8.5, the sensitivity was 70.0%, and the specificity was 87.5%.
Conclusions
The MNA-SF may be a useful screening tool for identifying malnutrition in patients with PD. However, the proposed < 8.5 cut-off should be considered exploratory and requires external validation in larger and more diverse PD populations before broader clinical application.
Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume 39, Issue 3, June 2026. Read More