After screening with, for example, SNAQ or MUST a full Nutritional Assessment can be necessary. With lacking capabilities and resources, a minimum set of measurements is recommended. Then, a suitable method is the SNAP; a Short Nutritional Assessment Procedure. This is a simple and quick method to determine a person's body composition and muscle strength.
About SNAP
The SNAP is a new short assessment for identifying and monitoring the nutritional status in vulnerable patients. With this method you can measure and assess the body composition and muscle strength of patients aged 18 years and older, looking at BMI, body type, grip strength, arm circumference, upperarm muscle and fat area, and waist circumference. The SNAP enables dietitians to collect quantitative data in a quick way, so that treatment goals can be measured. The figure below shows the SNAP toolkit with all the necessary tools to perform the SNAP measurements.
The SNAP does not consist of an overall score. After completing the measurement, it is immediately visible if the measured values (the arm circumference, muscle area, fat area, skinfold and grip strength) of a patient are high, normal, low or very low (broken down by gender and age). Also, the physique can be included to assess the severity in case of a low value. A low muscle mass is after all more severe in person's with a large physique than in person's with a small physique. The raw data can be saved directly in a spreadsheet, so changes are immediately visible - possibly through predefined figures.
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The movie below gives more information on the implementation of the SNAP. Dr. Ir. P.L.M. Reijven shows all individual actions and explains the procedure (in Dutch).
Background
This method is developed by Dr. Ir. P.L.M. Reijven, currently working at the academic hospital of Maastricht (MUMC +). Years of experience in Nutritional Assessment, combined with research into nutritional status and body composition underly this concept.
Maastricht UMC+
