What is weight loss?
Weight loss may be ‘physiological’ due to dieting, exercise, starvation, or decreased nutritional intake with old age. Alternatively, it may signify disease if there is a loss of more than 3 kg over 6 months.
What are the causes of pathological weight loss?
Pathological weight loss can be due to psychiatric illness, systemic disease, gastrointestinal causes, or advanced disease of many organ systems.
What psychiatric illnesses can cause weight loss?
Features of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and mood/affective disorders may be apparent after formal psychiatric input. Alcoholic patients may lose weight due to self-neglect and poor dietary intake. Depression may also cause weight loss.
What systemic diseases can lead to weight loss?
Chronic infections, including tuberculosis and recurrent urinary or chest infections, should be considered. A history of foreign travel and specific features such as fever, night sweats, rigors, productive cough, and dysuria must be sought.
What are signs of HIV-related illness in weight loss?
Promiscuous sexual activity and drug misuse suggest HIV-related illness.
When is weight loss a late feature?
Weight loss is a late feature of disseminated malignancy, often presenting with other features of cancer.
How can gastrointestinal diseases cause weight loss?
Almost any disease of the gastrointestinal tract can cause weight loss. Dysphagia and gastric outflow obstruction can lead to defective dietary intake.
What role does malignancy play in weight loss?
Malignancy at any site may cause weight loss through mechanical obstruction, anorexia, or cytokine-mediated systemic effects.
What are the effects of malabsorption on weight loss?
Malabsorption from pancreatic diseases or small bowel causes may lead to profound weight loss with specific nutritional deficiencies.
What inflammatory diseases can cause weight loss?
Inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can cause anorexia, fear of eating, and loss of protein, blood, and nutrients from the gut.
What miscellaneous causes can lead to weight loss?
Weight loss may occur in association with metabolic disorders as well as end-stage respiratory and cardiac disease.
