PEDIATRICS Vol. 77 No. 1 January 1986, pp. 132-133
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by GOLDEN, M. H. N.
Right arrow Articles by GOLDEN, B. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by GOLDEN, M. H. N.
Right arrow Articles by GOLDEN, B. E.

Zinc Deficiency and Edema

MICHAEL H. N. GOLDEN MRCP1 and BARBARA E. GOLDEN MB1

1 Wellcome Trace Element Research Group, Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica

To the Editor.—

Kumar and Anday1 describe three premature infants presenting with edema and hypoproteinemia—the classical signs of kwashiorkor—between 5 and 9 weeks of age. Such cases are not uncommon in developing countries. Kumar and Anday's patients had low plasma zinc concentrations (43, 37, and 42 µg/dL). On this basis the authors claim that edema and hypoproteinemia is a clinical presentation of zinc deficiency not previously reported.

We reported2 a clear association between "nutritional" edema and a low plasma zinc concentration in 1979; our subsequent experience has confirmed that edema of this type is always associated with a low plasma zinc concentration, as indeed Kumar and Andays' cases demonstrate.