- Wasting is also useless spending.
In medical circles, wasting refers to the process by which a debilitating disease causes muscle and fat tissue to "waste" away. Wasting is sometimes referred to as "acute malnutrition" because it is believed that episodes of wasting have a short duration, in contrast to stunting, which is regarded as chronic malnutrition.
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Contents
- 1 Causes
- 2 Classification
- 3 See also
- 4 External links
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Causes
Wasting can be caused by an extremely low energy intake (e.g., caused by famine), nutrient losses due to infection, or a combination of low intake and high loss. Infections associated with wasting include tuberculosis, chronic diarrhea, and AIDS. The mecanism may involve cachectin - also called tumor necrosis factor, a macrophage-secreted cytokine. Caretakers and health providers sometimes contribute to wasting by putting the patient on a very restrictive diet. Voluntary weight loss and eating disorders are excluded as causes of wasting.
Classification
- Children: Weight-for-height (WFH). In infants under 24 months, recumbent (supine) length is used. WFH as % of median reference value is calculated this way:
weight of a given child
WFH = ---------------------------------------- x 100
median weight for a child of that height
Cutoff points may vary, but <80% (close to -2 Z-score) is often used.
- Adults:
- Body Mass Index (BMI) is the quotient between weight and height squared (kg/m2). An individual with a BMI < 18.5 is regarded as a case of wasting.
- Percent of body weight lost (At Tufts, an unintentional loss of 6% or more in 6 months is regarded as wasting)
See also
- Atrophy
- Weight loss
- Cachexia
External links
- http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/03-1082.htm
- http://www.tufts.edu/med/nutrition-infection/hiv/health_weight_loss.html
- http://www.annalsnyas.org/cgi/content/abstract/587/1/325
- Scientists find key to "wasting syndrome"
Categories: Diseases | Disease stubs
