Elder care. A diagnostic model for failure to thrive.

1. Care of the elderly is often complicated by complex, interacting conditions. Major areas of concern for the elderly are malnutrition, depression, and confusion (in the form of dementia or delirium). Malnutrition has been prevalent in both hospitalized and institutionalized elderly. 2. Failure to thrive (FTT) has long been recognized in pediatric patients as a multifaceted syndrome that is primarily a disorder of nutritional status and physical and mental development. The characteristics of FTT in the elderly are undernutrition, loss of physical and cognitive function, and depression. 3. The redefinition and alteration of terms from the infant model of FTT results in three categories of FTT in the elderly--psychosocial, predisposing, and physical, as opposed to the two categories of FTT in infants--the infant and the environment.