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Related Experiment Videos

Why are Alzheimer patients thin?

S Singh1, G P Mulley, M S Losowsky

  • 1Department of Medicine, St James's Hospital, Leeds.

Age and Ageing
|January 1, 1988
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Alzheimer's disease patients experience significant weight loss, weighing less than non-demented individuals and those with multi-infarct dementia. This unexplained weight loss in Alzheimer's patients is not due to reduced food intake or malabsorption.

Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Neurology
  • Nutritional Science

Background:

  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
  • Weight loss is a common but poorly understood comorbidity in elderly patients with dementia.
  • Nutritional status is critical for maintaining health in older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare nutritional status and weight changes in elderly women with Alzheimer's disease (ALZ), multi-infarct dementia (MID), and without dementia (ND).
  • To investigate potential causes of weight loss in hospitalized elderly women with ALZ.

Main Methods:

  • Nutritional assessments were conducted in three groups of hospitalized elderly women: ALZ, MID, and ND.
  • Comparisons of body weight, food intake, and biochemical nutritional indices were made across groups.

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  • Malabsorption was assessed as a potential factor for weight loss.

    • Main Results:

    • ALZ patients exhibited significant weight loss, averaging 21% less than ND and 14% less than MID patients.
    • No obvious deficits in food intake or evidence of malabsorption were found to explain the weight loss in ALZ patients.
    • Biochemical nutritional markers showed minimal differences between the three groups.

    Conclusions:

    • Unexplained weight loss is a significant issue in elderly women with Alzheimer's disease.
    • The etiology of weight loss in ALZ patients remains uncertain and warrants further investigation.
    • Maintaining nutritional status in dementia patients requires understanding the underlying causes of weight changes.