Longitudinal Study of Growth and Development of Young Jamaican Children Recovering from Severe Protein‐energy Malnutrition

Abstract

The developmental level and nutritional status of a group of 17 children aged between 6 and 24 mo. who were admitted to hospital with severe protein-energy malnutrition were studied from admission to hospital until 36 mo. after returning home. They were compared with a group of 14 adequately nourished children of similar age who were admitted to hospital for other reasons. Initially the malnourished group were markedly behind the controls in developmental level, and they failed to reduce their deficit in hospital. Over the following 36 mo. they showed a gradual improvement relative to the controls in developmental level, height and head circumference, but were still significantly behind at the end of the study. They caught up in weight for height by 1 mo. after returning home. When length of stay in hospital, age at admission, birthweight, mother''s IQ and home background measures were taken into account, the direction of the differences between the 2 groups and signficance levels were unchanged.