American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 18, 413-420, Copyright © 1966 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Hematologic Studies in Kwashiorkor

¹ From the Nutrition Research Unit and Wellcome Research Unit, Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, South India

The hematologic findings in ninety-five children with kwashiorkor are described and compared with those in twenty-seven apparently normal control subjects of the same age and socioeconomic status.

The children with kwashiorkor as a group had a moderate degree of anemia, low serum iron, low serum folate and high serum vitamin B₁₂ levels.

Megaloblastosis of the bone marrow was found in a total of thirty-seven (39 per cent) children with kwashiorkor at the time of admission and developed in an additional twenty-one (22 per cent) during their stay in hospital. There was a seasonal variation in the incidence of megaloblastosis.

Twenty-four of the thirty-seven children with megaloblastic bone marrow at the time of admission had low levels of serum folate, and two a low level of serum vitamin B₁₂. The remaining eleven had apparently normal levels of serum B₁₂ and folate.