Differential diagnosis of unintentional weight loss

1. Big picture

Unintentional weight loss is a warning symptom, not a diagnosis. In the final exam, the key is to organize it clinically:

Confirm true weight loss → decide whether appetite is increased, normal, or reduced → look for red flags → screen for malignancy, chronic infection, endocrine disease, gastrointestinal disease, psychiatric disease, and systemic inflammatory disease.

A very useful bedside split: