TY  - JOUR
A1  - Franz, Kristina
A1  - Otten, Lindsey
A1  - Müller-Werdan, Ursula
A1  - Döhner, Wolfram
A1  - Norman, Kristina
T1  - Severe Weight Loss and Its Association with Fatigue in Old Patients at Discharge from a Geriatric Hospital
T2  - Nutrients
N2  - Although malnutrition is frequent in the old, little is known about its association with fatigue. We evaluated the relation of self-reported severe weight loss with fatigue and the predictors for fatigue in old patients at hospital discharge. Severe weight loss was defined according to involuntary weight loss >= 5% in the last three months. We determined fatigue with the validated Brief Fatigue Inventory questionnaire. The regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, number of comorbidities, medications/day, and BMI. Of 424 patients aged between 61 and 98 y, 34.1% had severe weight loss. Fatigue was higher in patients with severe weight loss (3.7 +/- 2.3 vs. 3.2 +/- 2.3 points, p = 0.021). In a multinomial regression model, weight loss was independently associated with higher risk for moderate fatigue (OR:1.172, CI:1.026-1.338, p = 0.019) and with increased risk for severe fatigue (OR:1.209, CI:1.047-1.395, p = 0.010) together with the number of medications/day (OR:1.220, CI:1.023-1.455, p = 0.027). In a binary regression model, severe weight loss predicted moderate-to-severe fatigue in the study population (OR:1.651, CI:1.052-2.590, p = 0.029). In summary, patients with self-reported severe weight loss at hospital discharge exhibited higher fatigue levels and severe weight loss was an independent predictor of moderate and severe fatigue, placing these patients at risk for impaired outcome in the post-hospital period.
KW  - malnutrition
KW  - involuntary weight loss
KW  - post-hospital syndrome
KW  - fatigue
KW  - old adults
Y1  - 2019
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48061
SN  - 2072-6643
VL  - 11
IS  - 10
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -