title: Vitamin E deficiency and associated neurological deficits in children with protein-energy malnutrition.
abstract: Vitamin E is important in maintaining normal neurological structure and function. In this study, 100 children with protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) were studied and compared to a suitably age-matched control group. Posterior column deficits, cerebellar deficits, and problems with fine motor coordination were present to a significant degree in the PEM subjects. The presence of neurological signs was correlated with various parameters of vitamin E deficiency, including low serum alpha-tocopherol levels and a low tocopherol/total lipid ratio which was present in 92 per cent of subjects. There was good concordance between vitamin E levels and vitamin E to serum lipid ratio in assessing vitamin E deficiency. We conclude that vitamin E deficiency is prevalent, to a hitherto unsuspected degree, in children with PEM and that these malnourished children have significant neurological deficits attributable to low vitamin E levels. This observation is of clinical significance as the neurological deficits are potentially reversible with vitamin E supplementation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kalra
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rathi
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Khurana
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D014811:Vitamin E Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids