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Malnutrition, gastroenteritis and trypsinogen concentration in hospitalised Aboriginal children
G L Briars1, S J Thornton, Y Forrest
1Children's Nutrition Research Centre, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Insights
Gastroenteritis, not malnutrition, elevates pancreatic enzyme (IRT) levels in Aboriginal children. This suggests subclinical pancreatic issues may occur with gastroenteritis, impacting nutritional assessments.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Nutritional Science
- Indigenous Health
Background:
- Malnutrition is a concern in hospitalized Aboriginal children.
- Pancreatic damage can be assessed using immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the link between malnutrition and pancreatic damage in hospitalized Aboriginal children.
- To determine if nutritional status influences pancreatic enzyme levels.
Main Methods:
- Measured whole blood immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) in 2 groups of Aboriginal children in Australia.
- Correlated IRT levels with nutritional indicators like weight z-scores and anthropometric measurements.
Main Results:
- IRT levels increased with lower weight z-scores in one group, but were otherwise unrelated to nutritional status.
- Elevated IRT concentrations were significantly more common in children with gastroenteritis compared to other diagnoses.
Conclusions:
- The observed high IRT in malnourished children is likely a confounding factor of gastroenteritis.
- Gastroenteritis may lead to subclinical pancreatic dysfunction, affecting IRT measurements.
Objective:
To explore relationships between malnutrition and pancreatic damage in hospitalised aboriginal children.
Methods:
Immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) concentrations were measured in two populations of hospitalised aboriginal children in Australia: 472 children aged 0-3 years, in Alice Springs (Northern Territory); and 187 children aged 0-16 years in Mount Isa (Queensland). Correlation of whole blood IRT with height and weight z-scores, four-site skinfold thickness and upper arm circumference was sought.
Results:
In Mount Isa, the geometric mean IRT concentration rose with decreasing weight z-score. The IRT concentration was otherwise unrelated to nutritional indices. Sixty percent of the 39 Mount Isa patients with gastroenteritis and 24.5% of the 358 Alice Springs patients with gastroenteritis had an IRT concentration in the upper quartile for their population, compared with 16% for patients with other diagnoses in both populations.
Conclusions:
A high IRT concentration in patients with low weight z-scores is a confounding effect of gastroenteritis, and may result from subclinical pancreatic disease in gastroenteritis.