Weight Loss In The Elderly Treatment

Weight loss can interfere with day to day functionality causing a decline in quality of life.

Weight loss in the elderly treatment. Elderly patients with unintentional weight loss are at higher risk for infection depression and death. One of your limbs may even look smaller than the other. Unfortunately it s common for many doctors to quickly turn to prescribing high calorie supplements like ensure or even prescription.

Unintentional weight loss is defined as a loss of 5 of your body weight within a six to 12 month period. Unintentional weight loss i e more than a 5 reduction in body weight within six to 12 months occurs in 15 to 20 of older adults and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality 1 in. The older mostly diabetic patients in the scout trial with sibutramine to induce weight loss showed 1 increase in non fatal mi but no increase in mortality.

Muscle loss or muscle wasting can lead to unexpected weight loss the major symptom is muscle weakness. How to treat unintentional weight loss. It is a symptom of many chronic conditions such as cancer chronic renal failure hiv and multiple sclerosis.

The leading causes of involuntary weight loss are depression especially in residents of. Cachexia is a condition that causes extreme weight loss and muscle wasting. Your body is made of fat mass and.

Add these to any treatment such as chemotherapy that causes nausea or vomiting and there will be a significant decrease in food intake. Recent data suggests that close to 30 of people over the age of 65 experience involuntary weight loss. In addition to illness related depression and lack of appetite medications that list weight loss as a side effect play a role.

Nonpharmacologic interventions are frequently recommended for treatment of hypertension in the elderly but there is a paucity of evidence from randomized controlled trials in support of this recommendation. 9354751 indexed for medline publication types. To determine whether weight loss or reduced sodium intake is effective in the treatment of older persons with hypertension.