title: Unintentional weight loss in long-term care: predictor of mortality in the elderly.
abstract: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 153 long-term care residents. Of these, 24 had lost at least 5% of their body weight during a 1-month interval. An unmatched control group of 51 patients was randomly selected from the remaining patients. Subjects who lost at least 5% body weight in 1 month were 4.6 times more likely to die within 1 year. Using multiple logistic regression, the odds ratio for weight loss and mortality was 5.1 (95% confidence interval 1.5 to 17.1) after adjustment for potential confounding by age and sex. The relatively simple anthropometric measure of body weight could be used by a multidisciplinary team in long-term care settings to identify patients at increased risk of dying. Further work is needed to clarify the role that nutrition could play in decreasing mortality in long-term care facilities.
authors.affiliation: University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Columbia 29202, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eleazer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guest
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000855:Anorexia / Q000503:physiopathology; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015431:Weight Loss