The impact of malnutrition on the quality of life in the elderly

Malnutrition is a frequent condition, both widely represented in geriatric population and underestimated in diagnostic and therapeutic work-up, and is known to affect health status and life expectancy of elderly people. The u nexpected weight loss is a pathological condition, recently classified in t hree different ways (sarcopenia, wasting and cachexia) according to criteri a of nutritional intake, functional abilities and age-related body composit ion modifications, that is caused by social psychological and medical facto rs. In this review, the authors highlight the ways that, through malnutrition, could lead to an impairment of quality of life in elderly people. Notwithst anding the great impreciseness and confusion that surrounds the term 'quali ty of life', the authors focus their attention on the correlation existing with the recently occurring changes to patients' health status and life-sty le, analysing the relationship with frailty, failure to thrive and homeosta tic balance failure syndrome. With the latter term, the authors introduce a pathological condition widely represented in the late stages of malnutriti on that often evolves in multiple organ failure and lastly in the death. (C ) 1999 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.