Constitutional syndrome: clinical entity or a mixed bag

Fatigue, anorexia and involuntary weight loss have been included under the term constitutional syndrome. These manifestations accompany many diseases in which the diagnosis is made by specific symptoms and signs. However, these events are generally the main reason for consultation and the patient do...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRevista médica (Mexico : 1983) Vol. 51; no. 5; p. 532
Main Authors Suárez-Ortega, Saturnino, Puente-Fernández, Alicia, Santana-Baez, Sergio, Godoy-Díaz, Davinia, Serrano-Fuentes, Miriam, Sanz-Peláez, Oscar
Format Journal Article
LanguageSpanish
Published Mexico 01.09.2013
Subjects
Anorexia - diagnosis
Asthenia - diagnosis
Fatigue - diagnosis
Humans
Syndrome
Weight Loss
fatiga
fatigue
síndrome constitucional
anorexia
constitutional syndrome
neoplasm
neoplasia
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Summary:Fatigue, anorexia and involuntary weight loss have been included under the term constitutional syndrome. These manifestations accompany many diseases in which the diagnosis is made by specific symptoms and signs. However, these events are generally the main reason for consultation and the patient does not report other specific data. This forces us to rigorously investigate the possible causes of the disorder. Usually, three manifestations coexist: asthenia, anorexia and weight loss, but sometimes the patient has only one or two of them. The causes of constitutional symptoms are varied and can be divided into three groups: psychiatric diseases, neoplasms and non-neoplastic diseases. The etiological identification is usually done with a simple protocol, which rules out malignancy; the rest of the cases of uncertain etiology are subject to evolution. The constitutional syndrome correlates well with good prognosis or medical functional processes. Although no clinical guidelines have been developed, score scales may help for the etiological assessment. Given the myriad of different causes of the constitutional syndrome, the treatment of this illness depends primarily on the etiology.
ISSN:0443-5117