Weight Loss In Elderly With Dementia

Many people with dementia lose weight in the later stages.

Weight loss in elderly with dementia. Weight loss can affect the immune system and make it harder for the person to. According to a study of more than 16 000 adults published in alzheimer s dementia. Watching someone with advanced dementia lose weight despite being fed enough food can be frightening.

Weight loss may occur despite the person with advanced dementia being given all the food they want. This includes difficulties in eating and appetite changes which often result in unintended weight loss. People in the later stages of dementia may experience loss of appetite among other symptoms.

10 2005 losing weight late in life may indicate that the brain is inching toward dementia a long term study shows that elderly men with dementia lost nearly 10 of their body weight a few. A journal of the alzheimer s association unplanned weight loss is strongly correlated with dementia severity. It is quite normal to feel this way.

There are many factors in dementia which can result in unintentional weight loss including reduced appetite difficulty swallowing forgetting and or refusing to eat difficulty using utensils behavioural issues and poor food safety practices. Weight loss may be part of the process of dying from dementia.