There is scant information regarding the standardized use of the NRS in tertiary nephrology wards. The NRS has equivalent sensitivity and specificity compared to the SGA, but is quicker and simpler to use, and thus requires considerably less examiner training.

It was shown to be reliable to identify hospital patients at risk of malnutrition and was therefore recommended by the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN). The NRS combines both a measure of current potential undernutrition and a measure of disease severity and has been validated in various patient groups. So far, the most successfully evaluated screening tools in CKD patients are the SGA or one of its adaptations. Several studies have found associations between nutritional risk and adverse clinical outcome using various screening tools such as the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS). Yet, many CKD patients with a high risk of malnutrition remain undetected during hospitalization, due to the lack of standardized nutritional screening tools. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are commonly depleted of protein and energy stores and particularly prone to develop malnutrition. In hospitalized patients, malnutrition is observed in 20–60% and is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. The prevalence of malnutrition in chronic patients is substantial and varies significantly depending on the screening instruments used for assessment.

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