Abstract
Thyroid function is investigated in 20 malnourished and 10 normal infants.
Our findings indicate that there is a significant decrease in serum thyroid hormone levels in protein-energy malnutrition. After two months of treatment, serum T_4 and FT_4 levels were still significantly lower in the patients than in normal controls. T_3 levels were also significantly low in untreated malnourished infants. After treatment the mean T_3 value of malnourished babies was still lower than in normal controls, but the difference was not statistically significant.
It is concluded that decrease in thyroid gland activity in protein-energy malnutrition should be considered as an adaptation to low calorie intake.
Keywords: malnutrition, nutritional disorder, protein energy malnutrition, thyroid function
Copyright and license
Copyright © 1982 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
