MUST, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool
Three steps: body mass index, unplanned weight loss over 3-6 months and acute illness with no intake. Total 0 to 6.
Updated · Methodology
About this calculator
BAPEN designed the tool as a single screen for hospital, community and care home settings, so that a result recorded in one place makes sense in another. Step one rates body mass index: above 20 scores zero, 18.5-20 scores one, below 18.5 scores two. Step two rates unplanned weight loss over the past 3-6 months: under 5 % zero, 5-10 % one, over 10 % two. Step three adds two points at once if the patient is acutely ill and has had no nutritional intake for more than five days, or none is expected. The total: 0 low risk, 1 medium, 2 or above high. What follows is set by local protocol rather than by the number: medium risk means observing intake for three days and reassessing, high risk means nutritional support and dietitian involvement. Screening does not diagnose malnutrition and does not replace body composition assessment. Where height or weight cannot be measured, BAPEN offers alternatives such as ulna length, mid-upper arm circumference and subjective criteria, and the result then stays approximate. In oedema and ascites body weight is inflated and the scale understates the real risk.
Source
Formula version: bapen-2003-rev2011-v1
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