Welcome to the MedLibrary.org Wikipedia Supplement on Wasting -- Please Click to Return to Front Page

Wasting could also mean unefficient and/or uneffective consumption. See waste.

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.

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 mechanism may involve cachectin - also called tumor necrosis factor, a macrophage-secreted cytokine. Caretakers and health providers can sometimes contribute to wasting if the patient is placed on an improper 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:

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
• Cachexia
• Weight loss

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"

This disease article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 9 May 2008, at 16:55.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Wasting".

The URL for this specific entry is:

• http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Wasting

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.