history
Last reviewed 01/2018
Important features include:
- weight:
- recent change with or without intention
- indirect evidence e.g. loose clothes, comments by family members, old photographs
- diet:
- intake, both normal and recent change
- components
- consistency
- frequency
- energy output:
- level of activity
- fever
- vomiting
- diarrhoea
- functional capacity for feeding e.g. disability resulting in difficulty with feeding. This is a broad spectrum, and should include obvious problems such as the loss of the use of an arm, and less obvious problems such as confusion.
- gastrointestinal symptoms which might be affecting intake or efficient use of diet e.g. malabsorptive symptoms, pancreatic dysfunction
- psychological symptoms or states altering intake / activity:
- fear
- anxiety
- anorexia
- general systemic symptoms possibly indicating an individual dietary deficiency:
- lethargy
- shortness of breath
- failure of wound healing
- chronic disease e.g. renal failure, diabetes
- hypermetabolic states e.g. trauma and burns
- malignancy