NRS-2002 Calculator
Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 – screening for risk of malnutrition in hospitalised adults.
Step 1 – Initial screening (4 questions)
Answer for the current admission. If all answers are “No”, the patient is not at nutritional risk by NRS-2002 and should be re-screened weekly. If any answer is “Yes”, complete Step 2.
Step 2 – Final screening
Complete this section if any initial screening question was answered “Yes”. If all were “No”, you may calculate directly to document a score of 0 and plan weekly rescreening.
NRS-2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002) is a hospital screening tool designed to identify inpatients who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition and who are likely to benefit from nutritional support. It was developed for adults in acute care and is recommended by ESPEN as a standard method for nutrition screening in hospitals. ESPN+1
The tool has two stages:
- Initial screening – four yes/no questions:
- BMI < 20.5 kg/m²?
- Weight loss in the last 3 months?
- Reduced dietary intake in the last week?
- Serious illness / severe disease?
If all answers are “No”, the patient is considered not at risk and should be rescreened weekly. If any answer is “Yes”, the final screening is performed. PMC+2fresubin.com+2
- Final screening – two subscores plus age:
- Impaired nutritional status (0–3 points) based on recent weight loss, reduced intake, and BMI.
- Disease severity (0–3 points) reflecting metabolic stress and increased requirements (e.g. hip fracture vs major surgery vs ICU).
- Age ≥ 70 years adds +1 point to the total. cdn-links.lww.com+2cdn-links.lww.com+2
Total NRS-2002 scores range from 0 to 7. In most guidelines and studies, a score of ≥ 3 means the patient is at nutritional risk and should receive a nutritional care plan; a score < 3 means no current risk but requires weekly rescreening during the hospital stay. cdn-links.lww.com+2PMC+2
NRS-2002 has been widely validated. Higher scores are associated with longer hospital stay, more complications, and higher mortality, and its use helps target dietetic input to patients who benefit most from nutritional support. PubMed+2Swiss Medical Weekly+2
