Unintentional Weight Loss: Why Does It Occur?
There is talk of involuntary weight loss when a person reduces their body volume without wanting to. That is, this individual is not doing a treatment or a specific diet to lose kilograms. The situation is seen as a red flag.
Before the consultation for this problem, doctors immediately trace underlying causes to rule out malignant processes and serious diseases that put life at risk.
It is worth clarifying that not all involuntary weight losses are extremely serious, as long as they do not last over time. For this reason, professional evaluation is important in each case to determine the steps to be followed.
In strict terms, the health team must be alerted if more than 5% of the weight that the person had before is lost, in 6 months. If the drop in kilograms is at the limit of that percentage, you can wait up to a year.
Who is most at risk and why?
There are population groups more likely than others to suffer from involuntary weight loss. In a healthy adult it is somewhat rare, although it can appear spontaneously. The situation is different in those over 60 years of age, among whom the symptom can be detected with a frequency greater than 10%.
With hospitalizations there is a constant that is located in 2% of the internees losing weight during hospitalization. Now, if this hospitalization is long or becomes institutionalization, then the prevalence increases to 50%.
Involuntary weight loss leads to increased morbidity, and in patients with previous disease, the prognosis worsens. In the case of cancer, it is configured as a sign of progression and poor response to treatments.
Causes of involuntary weight loss
One reason for involuntary weight loss that escapes medicine is that of socioeconomic reasons. Lack of money and lack of accessibility to nutrients due to social barriers lead to unwanted malnutrition. On the other hand, we have three large groups of causes that we will see below: organic, psychological and due to medications.
Organic origins of involuntary weight loss
There are many organic causes of this symptom, from systemic disorders such as neoplasms, to hormonal changes such as diabetes. Sometimes they represent a real diagnostic challenge.
In cancer, we often talk about constitutional syndrome, which is a combination of involuntary weight loss, asthenia (lack of strength) and anorexia (lack of appetite). Although it manifests itself in various malignant pathologies, it is more classic than stomach cancer.
Gastrointestinal disorders result in less weight because patients eat smaller amounts to avoid symptoms. This is so in celiac disease and Crohn’s disease.
Among the hormonal variations that alter appetite and nutrient absorption is adrenal insufficiency, the highest expression of which is Addison’s disease. Diabetics suffer in different ways, linked to changes in the perception of taste and smell, as well as variations in insulin.
In patients experiencing neurological diseases, there is a behavioral alteration that explains the eating problems, and consequently, weight loss. In Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and vascular dementias, patients refuse food when it is offered to them.
Psychological causes
Depression is a cause of involuntary weight loss that can be masked by other pathologies. Depressed individuals eat less, but they often hide it and attribute their thinness to external or external factors.
Anorexia nervosa, characterized by refusal to eat, sometimes by inability to swallow, without a specific obstruction of the digestive tract, leads to thinness with serious health risk. It is a disorder that tends to appear in young women more frequently than in the rest of the population.
Finally, addictions to alcohol and other more powerful drugs, such as cocaine, displace eating habits. Addicts do not respect lunch and dinner schedules and do not ingest the nutrients that the body needs to build its body mass.
Medicines
Several drugs have among their adverse effects weight loss. Indicated by another symptom or another pathology, they cause a decrease in body kilograms in the background.
Levothyroxine prescribed in hypothyroidism accelerates metabolism and, in high doses, consumes kilocalories. Levodopa for Parkinson’s disease also causes unintended weight loss, as do digoxin and liraglutide.
Don’t let time go by with unintentional weight loss
Both people who notice an abrupt drop in weight, and doctors who are consulted for this symptom, need to be alert. It is essential that the appropriate complementary tests are carried out to obtain the diagnosis and treat the origin of the problem, so that it does not get worse.
