Severe hypophosphatemia in children with kwashiorkor is associated with increased mortality.
Severe hypophosphatemia, serum phosphate concentration <0.32 mmol/L (<1.0 mg/dL), occurred in 8 of 68 (12%) of children with kwashiorkor within 48 hours of admission; 5 of 8 (63%) of these children died, compared with 13 of 60 (22%) children without severe hypophosphatemia (P <.02). Dermatosis and dehydration were significantly correlated with severe hypophosphatemia, but these clinical signs could not reliably predict fatal cases. Severe hypophosphatemia seems to be common and life-threatening in children with kwashiorkor in Malawi.
Manary
M J
MJ
Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Genetics and the Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Hart
C A
CA
Whyte
M P
MP
D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D017674:Hypophosphatemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality*; D007223:Infant; D007732:Kwashiorkor / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality*; D008295:Malawi / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate