What Came First: Malnutrition or Severe Disease?

Abstract

A 20-year-old female with depression presented to the emergency department with chronic weight loss, weakness, fatigue, hair loss, rash, palpitations, and 2 weeks of cough. Initial history revealed that she had disordered eating habits with dietary restriction, experienced a 50-pound unintentional weight loss over 2 years despite reported adherence to nutritional supplementation, and had a normal gastrointestinal workup. On examination, she was markedly cachectic with a BMI of 10.3kg/m2 and hypotensive (84/69 mmHg). Her cardiovascular examination revealed a regular rate and rhythm without a murmur. Her breath sounds were diminished in the upper lobes bilaterally. A skin examination showed diffuse hair loss, skin breakdown, and peeling with a tender, erythematous, papular rash over the bilateral ankles, and nonpitting edema. A chest radiograph showed a right upper lobe opacity and lucent lesions in the left proximal humerus. A focused assessment with sonography for trauma examination showed a large pericardial effusion. Chest computed tomography revealed a right upper lobe opacity with an associated cavitation. Though she began improving with rifampin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol, levofloxacin, azithromycin, and nutritional rehabilitation, her clinical course was complicated by an acute worsening nearly 1 month into her hospitalization with persistent high fevers, worsening cough, development of a murmur, and worsening consolidation on chest computed tomography. Adolescent Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Gastroenterology, and Allergy and Immunology were consulted to guide the diagnostic evaluation and management of this patient’s complex clinical course.