Infant malnutrition affects cortical auditory evoked potentials

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to click and name stimuli were recorded for 23 malnourished infants on admission to and 17 on discharge from hospital, together with those from age-matched controls. The number of peaks on the AEPs and the amplitude were examined. The malnourished infants' AEPs to click stimuli differed from the controls' on admission but not on discharge. The malnourished infants had smaller AEP amplitudes to name than to click stimuli on discharge while the controls did not. The data show that cortical AEPs in infants are affected by malnutrition.