By reviewing the literature on the subject, this article examines whether continuous deep sedation without hydration--in the context of palliative care for patients with advanced cancer at the end of life--could be seen as a moral and clinical equivalent of so-called "slow euthanasia". It focuses on length of survival, fluid retention and thirst, and reviews [...]
PURPOSE: Dry axilla can sometimes be found among dehydrated older patients. In this study, we measured the axillary moisture and assessed it as possible marker for dehydration. METHODS: Twenty-nine older patients admitted with acute medical conditions participated in this study. Dehydration was diagnosed by the calculated serum osmolality of greater than 295mOsm/L. The moisture of [...]
AIMS: Although patients with heart failure (HF) may suffer from severe thirst, this has received little attention in scientific studies. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify and analyse data on thirst in HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: Pubmed, Cochrane, Cinahl, and Medline databases were searched for original studies on patients with HF with thirst [...]
OBJECTIVE: Many clinicians believe that exercise-associated muscle cramps (EAMC) occur because of dehydration. Experimental research supporting this theory is lacking. Mild hypohydration (3% body mass loss) does not alter threshold frequency (TF), a measure of cramp susceptibility, when fatigue and exercise intensity are controlled. No experimental research has examined TF following significant (3-5% body mass [...]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23220356
Indices of plasma hypertonicity, elevated plasma concentrations of solutes that draw fluid out of cells by osmosis, are needed to pursue hypertonicity as a possible risk factor for obesity and chronic disease. This paper proposes a new index that may be more sensitive to mild hypertonicity in vivo at a point in time than traditional measures. The index compares mean corpuscular volume (MCV) estimates from [...]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23216505
Background and Aims: Fluid requirements of children vary as a function of gender and age. To our knowledge, there is very little literature on the hydration status of French children. We assessed the morning hydration status in a large sample of 529 French schoolchildren aged 9-11 years. Methods: Recruited children completed a questionnaire on fluid [...]
The intact skin represents a barrier to the uncontrolled loss of water, proteins, and plasma components from the organism. Owing to its complex structure, the epidermal barrier with its major layer, the stratum corneum, is the rate-limiting unit for the penetration of exogenous substances through the skin. The epidermal barrier is not a static structure. [...]
OBJECTIVE: Recent data suggest that as many as 50% of older adults may have hypertonic plasma, an indicator of cell dehydration that predicts a range of adverse outcomes. To determine if a prevalence of this magnitude could be real, this study used nationally representative data to estimate the prevalence of hypertonicity, and to test for biologically plausible associations between hypertonicity, older age, glucose dysregulation, hemoconcentration, reduced bioelectrical [...]