Usefulness of the Malnutrition Screening Tool in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Objective: To examine the relation between the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and the mortality of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Methods: Fifty-two patients with pulmonary TB were analyzed. Nutritional assessment was carried Out using the MST. The MST incorporates three components: presence of weight loss (score 0 or 2), amount of weight lost (score 1-4), and poor food intake or poor appetite (score 0 or 1). A score >= 2 means that the patient is at risk for malnutrition. The Cox proportional hazard model was applied to assess the ability of the MST to predict prognosis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess the MST score as a prognostic indicator in patients with pulmonary TB. To obtain optimal cutoff values for the MST score for the prognostic assessment in patients with TB, the maximum Youden index was used. Results: For predicting the risk of mortality, the optimal cutoff value for the MST score was 2.5. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified age and a MST score >= 3 as significant independent prognostic factors for survival. The patients with a MST score <3 had a median survival of 453 d and those with a MST score >= 3 had a median survival of 242 d; the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The MST appears to be a reliable tool for the nutritional risk assessment of patients with pulmonary TB. This risk assessment tool can play a valuable role in quickly identifying patients at an increased risk of death and providing adequate nutritional support. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.