C-Reactive protein in severely malnourished children

Abstract

C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured in 53 children with primary severe malnutrition at the time of their hospital admission (group A). Eight showed typical kwashiorkor, four marasmic-kwashiorkor and 41 were marasmic infants: 21 of them suffered some kind of infectious disease, mostly of bacterial origin. An equal number of eutrophic children, matched according to the origin of the infection (bacterial, viral or micotic), were choosen as controls (group B). Eight of the non-infected children of group A (25%) exhibited elevated concentrations of CRP, as opposed to one (3%) of group B. All the infected cases in both groups, showed elevated levels of CRP, with higher values in group B (average 80 mg/dL) vs. group A (av. 13.2 mg/dL). These results suggest that in children with severe malnutrition the capacity for the production of acute phase reactants is mantained, although to a lesser degree than in normal weight children.