Malnutrition is frequently found in hospitals, where is related to poor outcomes. There are contradictory data about if prevalence of malnutrition is greater in surgical or medical patients. The aim of this study is to know the prevalence of malnutrition in both groups of patients.
METHODS:
The nutritional status of 189 patients from medical and surgical wards was assessed with Subjective Global Assessment, and data about sex, age, length of hospital stay, mortality, diseases, and wards of admission were collected. Qualitative variables were compared with chi-square test, and independent quantitative variables with Student's t test. P < 0.05 was accepted as significative.
RESULTS:
The prevalence of malnutrition was 40.2%. Malnourished patients have lost 7.3% of their weight, 67.1% referred a diminished oral intake, and 53.9% anorexia. Malnutrition was significatively associated to male sex, greater length of stay, and cancer.
Prevalence and severity of malnutrition were similar in medical and surgical wards, and malnourished patients just differed in diseases (chronic diseases in medical; surgical procedures and cancer in surgery).
CONCLUSIONS:
Malnutrition is equally prevalent in medical and surgical wards, probably due to different but highly frequent risk factors, and is related to a longer hospital stay.
"Prevalence of malnutrition in medical and surgical wards of a university hospital"
Vidal A, Iglesias MJ, Pertega S, Ayúcar A, Vidal O
Nutr Hosp. 2008 May-Jun ; 23(3): 263-7 (Hubmed.org)
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Treatment of Anorexia And Bulimia | Symptoms of Anorexia And Bulimia |Causes of Anorexia And Bulimia
There is broad consensus that the eating disorders of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa stem from fundamental disturbances in identity development, but theoretically based empirical support is lacking.
OBJECTIVE:
To extend work on the identity impairment model by investigating the relationship between organizational properties of the self-concept and change in disordered eating behaviors (DEB) in an at-risk sample of college women transitioning between freshman and sophomore years.
METHODS:
The number, valence, and organization of self-schemas; availability of a fat body weight self-schema; and DEB were measured at baseline in the freshman year and 6 and 12 months later in a community-based sample of college women engaged in subthreshold DEB (n = 77; control: n = 41). Repeated-measures analyses of variances were used to examine group differences, and hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict disordered eating behaviors.
RESULTS:
Women in the DEB group had more negative self-schemas at baseline and showed information-processing evidence of a fat self-schema compared with the controls. The groups did not differ in the number of positive self-schemas or interrelatedness.
The number of negative self-schemas predicted increases in the level of DEB at 6- and 12-month follow-up, and these effects were mediated through the fat self-schema. The number of positive self-schemas predicted the fat self-schema score but was not predictive of increases in DEB. Interrelatedness of the self-concept was not a significant predictor in this model.
DISCUSSION:
Impairments in overall collection of identities are predictive of the availability in memory of a fat self-schema, which in turn is predictive of increases in DEB during the transition to college in a sample of women at risk for an eating disorder. Therefore, organizational properties of the self-concept may be an important focus for effective primary and secondary prevention.
"The identity impairment model: a longitudinal study of self-schemas as predictors of disordered eating behaviors"
Stein KF, Corte C
Nurs Res. 2008 May-Jun ; 57(3): 182-90 (Hubmed.org)
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The Treatment of Anorexia | Causes of Anerexia
The eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are important psychiatric and somatic conditions occurring mainly in young women. The aetiology is unknown, but there are social, biological and psychological factors that play a relevant role in the pathogenesis, along with multiple endocrine abnormalities.
Hypothalamic monoamines (especially serotonin), neuropeptides (especially neuropeptide Y and cholecystokinin) and leptin are involved in the regulation of the human appetite. eating disorders share with migraine the same metabolic profile and aspect of psychiatric and psychological conditions.
In support of this hypothesis in one study, it has been shown that the incidence of migraine is high in these patients; and it has been shown that the incidence in a female group that suffers from migraine was greater than in the normal population.
In order to understand the possible relationship between migraine and eating disorders, we have investigated the incidence of primary headache in a group of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa patients. The result of this study shows that the prevalence of migraine in women affected by anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is very high (75%) in comparison to the general population (12.5% headache incidence in normal population).
In most patients the onset of migraine attacks began before or at the same time as the symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. We suggest that migraine is a predisposing condition for the occurence of AD in young women.
"Eating disorders and headache: coincidence or consequence ?"
Ostuzzi R, D'Andrea G, Francesconi F, Musco F
Neurol Sci. 2008 May ; 29 Suppl 1: S83-7 (Hubmed.org)
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Successful Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa | Physical Symptoms of Anorexia | Causes And Effects of Anorexia, Causes of Anerexia
