Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool [MUST]

Brief Description

The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) is a brief nutritional screening instrument used to assess the risk of malnutrition. According to the provided source material, it is a checklist based on three key areas: Body Mass Index (BMI), food intake, and the presence of acute disease.

The tool is designed to be practical and easy to administer in routine clinical settings. Completion takes less than 5 minutes per patient, making it suitable for rapid nutritional screening.

Aim

The main aim of the MUST is to support the identification of individuals who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, so that the resulting score can be linked to appropriate interventions.

The instrument is intended as a screening tool rather than a comprehensive nutritional diagnostic assessment. It may therefore help determine whether further evaluation, monitoring, or nutritional intervention is required.

Factors Assessed

The MUST includes three main areas of assessment:

Body Mass Index (BMI): used to evaluate body status in relation to weight and height.

Food intake: considers whether the individual’s nutritional intake may be inadequate.

Acute disease: takes into account the presence of acute illness that may adversely affect nutritional status.

These components are combined to provide an overall indication of the individual’s risk of malnutrition.

Scoring

According to the provided document, each of the three questions is scored using either a 2-point or 3-point scoring system. The individual scores are combined to generate a total score, and recommended interventions are linked to the resulting total.

The available source does not provide the exact numerical scoring categories, risk thresholds, or the full intervention algorithm. Therefore, these details cannot be established from the uploaded document alone.

Target Population

The MUST is intended for adults and older adults.

In the source material, it is classified as an observational instrument related primarily to nutrition, and it is also associated with digestive conditions.

Clinical Use

The MUST may be used as an initial nutritional screening tool for adults and older adults, particularly when a rapid assessment of malnutrition risk is required.

Because the total score is linked to recommended interventions, the tool can support decisions regarding the need for monitoring, further nutritional assessment, or appropriate intervention.

Its brief administration time makes it suitable for settings in which efficient screening of multiple patients is necessary.

Applications

The MUST may be used in clinical and research settings concerned with the nutritional status of adults and older adults.

It may support:

• early identification of malnutrition risk,
• systematic documentation of nutritional status,
• planning of appropriate interventions,
• and monitoring of populations at increased nutritional risk.

Reference Information

The source material identifies Elia M. (2003) as the author and refers to the Stuurgroep Ondervoeding for the Dutch version.