No abstract

BACKGROUND:No other study has ascertained the short-term impact of weight change on health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) on a national sample of older adults. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between change in body weight and HRQL among the older adult population. , and compared to those who underwent no important weight change, weight loss was associated with a clinically significant worsening in the role-physical, vitality, and social functioning SF-36 scales. Among obese women (BMIZ30 kg/m 2 ), weight gain led to a reduction in HRQL for four of the eight SF-36 scales, while weight loss was associated with worse scores in role-emotional and mental health scales. Results were usually similar for men, though of lower magnitude. In both sexes, weight change was associated with a reduction of over 5 points on several physical and mental scales of the SF-36, which indicates a clinically relevant worsening in HRQL. CONCLUSION: Weight change is associated with worse HRQL among the older adults, principally women. From the stance of HRQL, it is desirable to prevent weight gain, especially among the obese, and weight loss, especially among the nonobese.

Our results suggest that the branch-chain amino acids-rich formulas (45%) show a beneficial effect in septic patients.