A pilot study to assess the use of megesterol acetate to promote weight gain in frail elderly persons residing in long-term care.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of megesterol acetate (MA) for increasing body weight of frail older persons residing in long-term care settings.


METHODS
A retrospective study.


METHODS
Two long-term care facilities in a large city in the southwestern US.


METHODS
Six white residents (five female, one male, mean age 87.8 years) of the facilities who had a sustained weight loss of 5% in 1 month or 10% in 6 months or longer.


METHODS
Weight gain or loss of participants receiving 480 milligrams of megesterol acetate for a minimum of 28 consecutive days.


RESULTS
Five of the six subjects gained weight over a 2-month period after taking 480 milligrams of MA for 1 month or more. There was a delayed effect of non-fluid weight gain that was statistically significant 2 months after the end of treatment. One woman with diagnoses of stroke, arthritis, and hypertension lost weight despite taking MA continuously for 84 days.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that MA has been underutilized by geriatric health professionals as an intervention to ameliorate or reverse anorexia of aging after other nutritional efforts have failed. Using MA to prevent unintentional weight loss and malnutrition may significantly improve the health status of older patients. A prospective study using a larger sample and based on ideal weight should be carried out to evaluate the benefit of MA, with particular attention to weight gain that persists after 2 months. Future studies should also take into account the high dropout rate of participants and consider earlier intervention with MA.
Raney
M S
MS
Dept. of Family Practice and Community Medicine, University of Texas-Houston, 77030, USA.
Anding
R
R
Fay
V
V
Polk
G
G