Aim The present study aimed to determine whether the Mini‐Nutritional Assessment Short‐Form (MNA‐SF) can predict the 1‐year outcome of orthopedic fracture surgery in elderly patients. Methods This 1‐year prospective study assessed nutrition using the MNA‐SF at baseline, and postoperatively at 6 and 12 months. Repeated measures analysis of covariance was used to examine functional change over time for two MNA‐SF categories. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with forward stepwise modeling was carried out to identify risk factors of functional decline, emergency department visit, hospital readmission and mortality at follow up. Results There were 312 participants, 11 of whom died (3.53%) during 1‐year follow up. The mean age was 74.04 ± 7.65 years. A total of 88.1% and 11.9% of the participants were well nourished (MNA‐SF 12–14 points) or at risk of undernutrition (0–11 points), respectively. For MNA‐SF as a continuous variable, lower MNA‐SF scores were associated with a significantly higher risk of emergency department visit at 6‐month follow up, and mortality at 12‐month follow up (emergency room visit, adjusted odds ratio 0.78, 95% CI 0.63–0.96, P < 0.05; mortality, adjusted odds ratio 0.73, 95% CI 0.57–0.94, P < 0.05). No association was found between functional decline and hospital readmission, and MNA‐SF scores. For MNA‐SF categories, functional decline was more profound in patients at risk of undernutrition than in well‐nourished patients, especially 6–12 months postoperatively. Conclusions The MNA‐SF could be an effective and non‐invasive preoperative screening tool to predict functional decline, emergency department visit and mortality during the year after surgery. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; ••: ••–••.