Poor Appetite (poor + appetite)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Gastrointestinal symptoms in adolescents with type 1 diabetes

PEDIATRIC DIABETES, Issue 4 2010
Maria Lodefalk
Lodefalk M, Åman J. Gastrointestinal symptoms in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Objective: To compare the prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in adolescents with and without type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and to relate the symptoms in patients to demographic, socioeconomic, diabetes-specific variables, and food habits. Method: In a population-based, cross-sectional setting, 173 adolescents with T1DM and 160 matched controls completed a questionnaire. Moreover, 13 patients and 1 control were excluded due to having a GI disorder. Results: Moreover, 75% of patients and 77% of controls reported at least one GI symptom (ns). More girls than boys reported symptoms. Reflux episodes were more prevalent in patients with poorer socioeconomic status. Poor appetite, loss of weight, an uncomfortable feeling of fullness, swallowing difficulties, and nausea were more prevalent in patients smoking daily compared with patients not smoking daily. Vomiting was more prevalent in patients with duration of diabetes >7 yr, and patients with reflux episodes had higher glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Belching and early satiety were more prevalent in patients with an irregular meal pattern. Conclusions: GI symptoms in adolescents are common, but the prevalence is not increased in those with T1DM. GI symptoms in adolescents with T1DM are associated with female sex, poorer socioeconomic status, daily cigarette smoking, longer duration of diabetes, poorer metabolic control, and an irregular meal pattern. [source]


Treatment options for hydroxyurea-refractory disease complications in myeloproliferative neoplasms: JAK2 inhibitors, radiotherapy, splenectomy and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Elena Mishchenko
Abstract Clinical care of patients with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis (MF) requires not only a broad understanding of general treatment principles but also familiarity with the management of hydroxyurea-refractory disease complications. The latter include progressive splenomegaly, symptomatic portal hypertension (e.g. ascites, variceal bleeding), pulmonary hypertension, bone pain, intractable pruritus, constitutional symptoms (e.g. fatigue, night sweats) and cachexia (i.e. loss of lean body mass, general ill health, poor appetite). Some of these symptoms are directly or indirectly related to extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) and others to proinflammatory cytokine excess. Results from recent clinical trials of JAK inhibitors suggest remarkable activity in MF-associated constitutional symptoms, cachexia, pruritus and hydroxyurea-refractory splenomegaly. Involved-field radiotherapy is best utilized in the setting of EMH-associated symptoms, including ascites, bone (extremity) pain and pulmonary hypertension. Splenectomy is indicated in the presence of drug-refractory splenomegaly and frequent red cell transfusion requirement. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt is used to alleviate symptoms of portal hypertension. [source]


A concept analysis of malnutrition in the elderly

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 1 2001
Cheryl Chia-Hui Chen RN MSN GNP
A concept analysis of malnutrition in the elderly Purpose.,Malnutrition is a frequent and serious problem in the elderly. Today there is no doubt that malnutrition contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Unfortunately, the concept of malnutrition in the elderly is poorly defined. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the meaning of malnutrition in the elderly and to develop the theoretical underpinnings, thereby facilitating communication regarding the phenomenon and enhancing research efforts. Scope, sources used.,Critical review of literature is the approach used to systematically build and develop the theoretical propositions. Conventional search engines such as Medline, PsyINFO, and CINAHL were used. The bibliography of obtained articles was also reviewed and additional articles identified. Key wards used for searching included malnutrition, geriatric nutrition, nutritional status, nutrition assessment, elderly, ageing, and weight loss. Conclusions.,The definition of malnutrition in the elderly is defined as following: faulty or inadequate nutritional status; undernourishment characterized by insufficient dietary intake, poor appetite, muscle wasting and weight loss. In the elderly, malnutrition is an ominous sign. Without intervention, it presents as a downward trajectory leading to poor health and decreased quality of life. Malnutrition in the elderly is a multidimensional concept encompassing physical and psychological elements. It is precipitated by loss, dependency, loneliness and chronic illness and potentially impacts morbidity, mortality and quality of life. [source]


Dietary vitamin A requirement of juvenile Amur sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii)

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ICHTHYOLOGY, Issue 5 2008
H. Wen
Summary The present experiment was conducted to determine the dietary vitamin A requirement of juvenile Amur sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii) by formulating seven semipurified diets containing 10, 258, 510, 1050, 2020, 4100 and 8300 IU vitamin A (as retinol acetate) kg,1 diet, respectively. Each experimental diet was fed to triplicate groups of 20 juveniles each with initial average weights of 12.09 ± 0.22 g in 405-L aquaria and maintained at 25.0 ± 2.0°C for 8 weeks. Fish fed the basal diet (10 IU vitamin A kg,1 diet) exhibited poor appetite and activity, whereas these signs were not observed in any group fed vitamin A-supplemented diets. Weight gain, feed efficiency and hepatosomatic index increased significantly with increases in the dietary vitamin A level, reaching a peak with the vitamin A 1050 IU kg,1 diet, and then decreasing. Muscle chemical compositions were not affected by the dietary vitamin A levels. Vitamin A concentrations in liver and muscle increased significantly as the vitamin A levels increased within a range of 10,4100 IU kg,1 diet; above this level there were no significant changes. Broken-line regression analysis of weight gain and liver vitamin A concentration against the dietary vitamin A level showed that juvenile Amur sturgeon required a minimum of 923 IU vitamin A kg,1 in the diet for maximal growth, and 1981 IU kg,1 for highest liver vitamin A accumulation. [source]


Stroke patients in nursing homes: eating, feeding, nutrition and related care

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 4 2002
SUZANNE KUMLIEN LMSc
,,The purpose of this study was to explore eating, feeding and nutrition among stroke patients in nursing homes as described by their nurses and by assessments. ,,Registered Nurses were interviewed about an individual stroke patient's state of health, care needs and nursing care received and nursing records were reviewed. Information on eating, feeding and nutrition was extracted from the interviews and nursing records. A comprehensive instrument, the Resident Assessment Instrument, was also used to assess these patients' state of health. The domains of eating, feeding and nutrition were focused on in this study. Manifest content analysis was used. ,,The results showed that more than 80% of the stroke patients in nursing homes were assessed as having some sort of dependence in eating. According to the Registered Nurses, 22 out of 40 patients demonstrated different eating disabilities. The number of eating disabilities in individual patients ranged from 1 to 7, which emphasized the complexity of eating disabilities in stroke patients. Dysphagia was reported in almost one-fourth of the patients and 30% were described and/or assessed as having a poor food intake or poor appetite. The Registered Nurses' descriptions of the eating disabilities, nutritional problems and their care were often vague and unspecific. Only six weights were documented in the nursing records and there were no nutritional records. ,,The findings highlight the importance of making careful observations and assessments, and of maintaining documentation about eating and nutrition early after a patient's arrival in the nursing home to enable appropriate care and promotion of health. [source]


Effects of folic acid on preschool children's appetite: Randomized triple-blind clinical trial

PEDIATRICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 5 2007
NIKTA HATAMIZADEH
Abstract Background: In recent years some Iranian pediatricians have used folic acid empirically as an appetite-enhancing drug in poor-appetite, low-weight children. Many parents have expressed their satisfaction with this treatment but until now no study has been done to confirm or exclude folic acid as an appetite enhancer. Methods: In order to determine if complementary folic acid has any effect on preschool children's appetite, 61 3,5-year-old children (27 girls and 34 boys) whose weight/age and weight/height ratios were below the 25 centile and whose parents regarded them as having poor appetite were randomly assigned to receive either folic acid (1 mg/day) or placebo for 20 days. The primary outcome measures were any appetite changes during and 1 month after the end of the intervention, measured by means of a questionnaire completed by parents on the 20th and 60th days. Secondary measures were mean weight gain on the 30th and 60th days. Results: Children who received folic supplement had a significantly better appetite on the 20th day than those who received placebo (mean difference of appetite score: 1.7; 95% confidence interval: 0.1,3.4; P = 0.04) and significantly more children receiving folic acid were reported to have increased appetite than the placebo group (P = 0.03). But 40 days after the end of the intervention there was no difference between the two groups. Weight gain did not significantly differ between groups. Conclusions: Although folic acid appears to improve preschool children's appetite, further study is necessary to determine whether it has any effect on growth as an adjunctive to management protocols of low appetite for undernourished children. [source]


Analysis of the circumstances at the end of life in children with cancer: Symptoms, suffering and acceptance

PEDIATRICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2003
TERUAKI HONGO
AbstractBackground: In an effort to improve the quality of life of children with cancer, this study analyzes the signs and symptoms at the end of life in such children. It is hoped that these data will contribute to the development of appropriate programs to address the challenges faced by these children. Procedure: Between 1994 and 2000, 28 children died after treatment for cancer at Hamamatsu University Hospital, Japan. The circumstances, signs and symptoms at the end of life of these children were analyzed through their medical records. Results: Of the 28 children, the underlying diseases were leukemia/lymphoma (LL group; n=11), brain tumors (BT group; n=7), and other solid tumors (OST group; n=10). Records showed poor appetite (100%), dyspnea (82.1%), pain (75.0%), fatigue (71.4%), nausea/vomiting (57.1%), constipation (46.4%) and diarrhea (21.4%) among these children. Anxiety was reported in 53.6% of the entire group of 28 children; however, no child in the BT group manifested anxiety. However, disturbance of consciousness was reported in all children in the BT group, which was significantly greater than in the other groups. Awareness, fear or acceptance of the imminence of his/her own death as indicated by verbal expression was reported in nine children (32.1%). Conclusions: Using the data obtained in the present study, we describe situations faced in the terminal care of children. It is important to address the problems revealed by this analysis in order to achieve improvements in both the physical and psychological care of children with terminal cancer. [source]


Prader-Willi syndrome and the evolution of human childhood

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2003
David Haig
The kinship theory of genomic imprinting predicts that imprinted genes have effects on asymmetric kin (relatives with different degrees of matrilineal and patrilineal relatedness). The most important interaction with such a relative is a child's interaction with its mother. Therefore, the study of imprinted genes and their phenotypic effects promises to provide insights into the evolution of mother,child relations. Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is caused by the absence of expression of genes at 15q11,q13 that are normally expressed only when paternally derived. The kinship theory predicts that children with PWS will fail to express behaviors that have increased mothers' costs of child-rearing. Our analysis focuses on aspects of the PWS phenotype that affect appetite and feeding. Immediately after birth, children with PWS have little appetite and are usually unable to suckle, but at some stage (usually within the first 2 years) they develop a voracious appetite and an obsession with food. We conjecture that this change in appetite reflects evolutionary forces associated with weaning. Immediately after birth, when a child is completely dependent on the breast, poor appetite reduced maternal costs. However, once a child was able to consume supplemental foods, maternal costs would have been reduced by children with increased, nonfastidious appetites. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 15:320,329, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Prognostic value of symptom burden for overall survival in patients receiving chemotherapy for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer

CANCER, Issue 1 2010
Xin Shelley Wang MD
Abstract BACKGROUND: Patient,reported outcomes have shown independent prognostic value for patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, translating patient-reported outcomes into useful prognostic information for individual patients has been problematic. METHODS: A total of 94 patients with advanced NSCLC and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (PS) of 0 to 2 who qualified for chemotherapy rated symptom severity using the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory before and after their first chemotherapy cycle. Prognostic values of baseline symptoms and changes in symptom severity were examined by Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, controlled for demographic and other factors, baseline coughing rated ,4 independently predicted significantly higher risk for shorter survival (hazards ratio [HR], 8.69; P < .0001). Patients with coughing ,4 and a PS of 2 were more likely to have shorter survival (HR, 20.6; P < .0001) than patients with coughing <4 and a PS of 0 to 1. A 1,point or greater increase in severity of fatigue (P < .05), shortness of breath, or poor appetite (P < .01) from baseline to the end of the first chemotherapy cycle was also found to be independently associated with higher risk for poor survival. CONCLUSIONS: An increased risk for shorter survival was indicated by moderate to severe coughing at baseline or by increased fatigue or shortness of breath during the first chemotherapy cycle in patients with advanced NSCLC. Although cross,validation is needed, these data suggest that an individual patient's symptom severity scores, quickly obtainable in the clinic, might contribute clinically useful information for treatment planning for that patient. Cancer 2010. © 2010 American Cancer Society. [source]