How to recognize wasting syndrome.

Wasting occurs in approximately 20 percent of people with AIDS and is associated with higher mortality rates and diminished quality of life. Weight loss in HIV-positive patients targets lean body mass or muscle rather than fat. Wasting syndrome is currently defined as a 10 percent loss in body weight accompanied by 30 days of fever and/or diarrhea. Many physicians find the definition too limiting and are modifying the criteria to make it more inclusive of earlier forms of the disease. Wasting is caused by inadequate calorie intake, malabsorption of nutrients, an altered metabolic rate, and hormone deficiency. Physicians need to monitor body composition of people with HIV to prevent and reverse the loss of lean body mass.