To determine the validity of the nutrition screening tool' Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition, version II' (SCREEN II) among a purposive sample of octogenarians. Design: Cross-sectional validation study.

Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Participants: Forty-five community-living residents aged 85-86 years. Equal proportions of participants were recruited at low, medium and high nutrition risk based on their SCREEN II score 12 months prior.

Nutrition risk was assessed using SCREEN II. Demographic and health data were established. Using established criterion a dietitian's nutrition risk rating assessment ranked participants from low risk (score of 1) to high risk (score of 10). The assessment included a medical history, anthropometric measures and dietary intake. Dietary intake was established from three 24 hour multiple pass recalls (MPR). A Spearman's correlation determined the association between the SCREEN II score and the dietitian's risk score. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were completed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the cut-off point for high nutrition risk.

The SCREEN II score was significantly correlated with the dietitian's risk rating (rs = −0.76 (p<0.01). A newly defined cut-off point <49 was established for high nutrition risk derived from ROC curves and AUC (0.87, p < 0.01); sensitivity 90% and specificity 86%.

SCREEN II is a simple, easy to use, 14 item questionnaire and appears to be a valid tool for detection of nutrition risk people aged 85–86 years.