| Nutrition Support |
The majority of AIDS patients had life- threatening
conditions such as pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia (PCP) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Some hospitalized
patients were offered costly total parenteral nutrition (TPN), or less
often tube-feedings. As the decade progressed, the perceived risk of infection
in an immunocompromised patient on TPN led to a decrease in its use. Patients
began to voice their food preferences to try and increase food intake with
favorite foods. Many received enteral formulas such as Ensure designed
for weight gain.
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In the early 1990s, many people with AIDS
were hospitalized with secondary conditions such as wasting, lymphoma,
Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS) and foodborne illnesses, which often required nutrition
support. Some required a special meal pattern of frequent nutrient-dense
meals to help them gain weight. Later in the decade HIV-positive patients
were more apt to require specialized meal patterns that included specialized
formulas such as Advera and dietary supplements. In 1998, patients began
to receive meal-medication counseling to promote adherence to complicated
HAART regimens. Also later in the decade, pharmaceutical companies began
marketing anabolics and other hormone related medications to increase muscle
mass and total body weight. |
Fewer people living with HIV infection will
be hospitalized but those that are will have worse complications than HIV-positive
patients in the 1990s. More people living with HIV will use specialized
dietary supplements such as multivitamins, probiotics, and complementary
therapies such as meditation and acupuncture. As compared to the early
epidemic years, wasting will not be as prominent. More HIV-positive patients
will require food plans that will assist them in lowering cholesterol,
triglyceride and blood sugar levels. HAART regimens will not be as complicated
as in the 1990s.
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