Malnutrition can be defined includes deficiencies of nutrients, imbalance and excesses which can take a toll on the body.
Malnutrition is common among AIDS patients and plays an independent and important role in their prognosis. HIV/AIDS put a heavy toll on the nutrient demands by the body due to opportunistic infections that drain nutrients (diarrhea, vomiting), and/or reduce dietary nutrient intake.
Malnutrition in HIV-infected patients results in disproportionate depletion of body cell mass, total nitrogen and skeletal muscle mass; all are consistent with cachexia.
It occurs in the majority of patents with HIV infection if survival exceeds 5 years. Persons with HIV and AIDS may have decreased appetite for a variety of reasons. These include nausea induced by medication, difficulty swallowing due to painful cicada esophagitis or malabsorption due to gastrointestinal parasitic infection.
Hospitalized HIV patents probably represent a more malnourished, sicker subset of patients than outpatients with HIV. Almost half (42%) of these patients were classified as having moderate to severe malnutrition.
Malnutrition is a serious morbidity syndrome and disease complication that affects the functioning of the immune and consequently impacts on the survivability and quality of life.
Malnutrition and AIDS relationship
