Correlation between nutritional status screening by MNA-SF and acute stroke-associated infections in older adults

Purpose This study aimed to explore the correlation between nutritional status screening using the MNA-SF and stroke-associated infections (SAI) in older adults. Methods A retrospective study of patients aged over 70 years with acute stroke was conducted. The patients were divided into normal nutritional status, malnutrition risk, and malnutrition groups depending on their baseline MNA-SF scores. The correlation between nutritional status and SAI was identified using multivariate logistic regression. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to demonstrate the predicted value of MNA-SF. Results 497 patients were included, 101 (20.32%) developed SAI. 32.29% of patients with malnutrition developed SAI, while 25.14% of those with malnutrition risk developed SAI. Malnutrition (aOR 4.58, 95% CI 2.34–8.96, p < 0.001) and risk of malnutrition (aOR 3.70, 95%CI 2.01–6.85, p < 0.001) were independent risk factors for SAI in older stroke patients. The area under the curve (AUC) value of MNA-SF was 0.713. Conclusion MNA-SF is a simple and effective nutritional screening tool for predicting the occurrence of SAI in older patients with acute stroke.