Oligoelements deficiency in adult patients consulting for underweight

Salem Dorra Ben; Emna Bornaz; Selma Mohsen; Haifa Abbassi; Sana Khamassi; Fatma Boukhayatia; Brahim Asma Ben; Rym Yahyeoui; Kamilia Ounaissa; Chiraz Amrouche

doi:10.1530/endoabs.99.EP164

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Endocrine Abstracts (2024) 99 EP164 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.99.EP164

ECE2024 Eposter Presentations Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition (383 abstracts)

Oligoelements deficiency in adult patients consulting for underweight

Dorra Ben Salem ¹ , Emna Bornaz ¹ , Selma Mohsen ² , Haifa Abbassi ¹ , Sana Khamassi ¹ , Fatma Boukhayatia ¹ , Asma Ben Brahim ¹ , Rym Yahyeoui ¹ , Kamilia Ounaissa ¹ & Chiraz Amrouche ¹

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¹National Institute of Nutrition, Outpatient Department and Functional Exploration, Tunis; ²Tahar Sfar Hospital, Endocrinology, Mahdia, Tunisia

Introduction: Oligoelements are essential for body metabolism and normal physiological processes. Deficiency of these micronutrients is associated with multiple situations such as malnutrition. Despite numerous reports linking micronutrient deficiencies to serious health complications, attention to this issue is poor among clinicians.

Objective: We investigated the nature of oligoelements deficiencies that arose in underweight patients in order to determine the frequency of deficiency in each element in this situation and to identify associated factors.

Materials and methods: An assessment of the serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and magnesium (Mg) levels was done on adult patients with underweight consulting our specialized nutrition unit in the outpatient department of the National institute of Nutrition of Tunis. Socio-demographic and anthropometric parameters were collected. To diagnose undernutrition, we referred to the high health authority (HAS) 2021 definition.

Results: Thirty-five adult patient was included with a female predominance (80%). The mean age was 36.64 ±13.45 years [22; 69]. The average weight, BMI, weight loss and calf circumference were 47.45±12.34 kg, 17.14±3.3 kg/m², 15.88±9.63% and 30.82±4.11 cm respectively. The prevalence of undernutrition was 62.84%. Only a third of patients (33.32%) had a known disease explaining their malnutrition on admission to the unit. The average Mg, Ca and P were 0.8±0.07 mmol/l, 2.35±0.11 mmol/l and 1.13±0.16 mmol/l respectively. Hypomagnesemia was met in 20% of cases, hypocalcemia in 5.7% of cases and hypophosphoremia in 2.9% of them. No significant correlation was found between (Mg), gender, anthropometric and other biological parameters. (Ca) was neither correlated to weight nor to weight loss. (P) was significantly correlated with calf circumference (P=0.05).

Conclusion: Oligoelement deficiencies seem to be frequently found in undernutrition situations. Proper monitoring and tests are recommended whenever the diagnosis is established, followed by specific and individual nutritional supplementation treatments.