Considerations for a Protein-Focused Screening Instrument in Clinical Nutrition Assessment

Physiological stress during injury and surgery negatively impacts protein balance and muscle mass maintenance. Adequate perioperative protein intake may attenuate muscle atrophy to maintain and facilitate functional recovery, particularly in older adults; yet, screening tools routinely used in clinical settings do not specifically assess protein intake when assessing nutrition risk. Although assessing malnutrition is a priority, suboptimal protein intake in non-malnourished patients should also be identified given protein's critical role in muscle health. This opinion paper highlights the potential for using a clinically appropriate protein-focused screener for rapid and efficient characterization of protein intake.