Further, doctors might look at the patient’s relationships with family, friends and caregivers, living situation, financial stability, and as well as look for symptoms of abuse or neglect if being cared for by a home health caregiver or a family member. Evaluation includes a review of the individual’s cognitive status, social interactions, and mood. Some medications can trigger depression, functional incapacity, and nutritional deficiency. In some patients, cognitive changes may occur due to delirium-induced effects of chronic health conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Other symptoms such as weight loss may be included in the auditing process. When patients are audited for malnutrition, doctors or nurses typically look at the patient’s diet history – including caloric intake, availability & ability to purchase food, the use of supplements, and the overall diet habits such as food intake, number of meals per day, and daily macro/micro nutrition intake. The most accurate and common evidence of malnutrition in older adult patients is hypocholesterolemia and hypo-albuminemia. Generally, nutrition is a very critical predictor of mortality in elderly people. When the diagnosis and treatment of depression is delayed, the decline & severity of symptoms of AFTT in senior patients typically become worse over time. Patients with failure to thrive are more likely to mask depression as a problem(s) related to their physical health, for example, a patient might disguise (whether willingly or not) symptoms of depression with weight loss related issues, making it harder to diagnose early on.
For example, the audit may look at the individual’s economic, spiritual, psychosocial and emotional needs and as well as some social or environmental factors the functional ability, underlying medical conditions, and medication interaction is also taken into account when evaluating for AFTT.ĭepression is the most common psychiatric condition in older adults with AFTT, and understanding whether it’s the consequence or the root cause of AFTT can play in instrumental role in the patient’s recovery & treatment of AFTT.
Why it’s a problemĪFTT is a serious problem in elderly individuals, especially for those who are living alone and struggle with a chronic health condition such as Alzheimer’s or Multiple Sclerosis, because it can result in poor nutrition, lack of activity, depression, and in most cases it culminates in death. This negative snowball effect is known as adult failure to thrive (AFTT), a decline seen in elderly individuals with multiple chronic medical conditions that get in the way of their daily living, resulting in a snowball effect of poor nutrition, weight loss, inactivity, depression and decreasing functional ability. He stops preparing meals and eats at a caloric deficit, and due to nutritional deficiency, he doesn’t have the energy to go out anymore and as a result he feels isolated and depressed. Learn more about Amazon Lockers.An aging father who recently broke his hip due to a fall is now spending more time sedentary and less active – he doesn’t move as often as he did prior to the hip fracture – he may spend more time than usual laying in bed or sitting on his chair. Children’s Health is proud to become the first pediatric health system in the country to offer Amazon Lockers, self-service kiosks that allow you to pick up your Amazon packages when and where you need them most – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.