Weight Loss In Elderly Cancer Patients

Cancer treatments can also lead to weight loss.

Weight loss in elderly cancer patients. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a cancer scoring system for predicting cancer in elderly uuwl patients. A third of cancer patients die from a wasting syndrome. Weight loss is common among people with cancer.

It may be the first visible sign of the disease. In people with upper gastrointestinal cancer this number is 80 out of 100 people 80. Many people associate unexplained weight loss with cancer.

Weight loss problem can be found in about 40 percent of patients with cancer. Doctors refer to a weight loss syndrome called cachexia which is characterized by. In fact 40 of people say they had unexplained weight loss when they were first diagnosed with cancer.

Even for those with advanced cancer most of them have it. Weight loss can also be attributable to radiation and chemotherapy side effects. Cachexia is a complex mechanism that causes weight loss in cancer patients.

The nutrition status of patients with cancer can vary at presentation and through the continuum of cancer care. Radiation and chemotherapy commonly cause a decrease in appetite. From 2006 to 2007 50 patients mean age 78 8 4 7 years 82 male who lost 5 of usual body weight were enrolled.

In this we see loss of fat stores and loss of muscle mass along with increasing fatigue. Though unintentional weight loss can be a warning sign of cancer there are other reasons for unexplained weight loss as well. This becomes a terrible vicious cycle.