title: Malabsorption: common causes and their practical diagnosis.
abstract: Malabsorption may present as non-specific ill health and malnutrition in the elderly. Outside major medical centers, however, investigation is often thought to be difficult and unrewarding, and screening tests unreliable. Therefore, a direct approach is suggested to identify treatable small bowel disease in those elderly patients with a clinical possibility of malabsorption. It is based on the use of plain abdominal x-ray, endoscopy with duodenal biopsy, and small bowel meal.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Geriatric Medicine, Guys Hospital, London.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Black
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000150:complications; D008286:Malabsorption Syndromes / Q000209:etiology*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000150:complications