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Kwashiorkor and Intellectual Development


DE Evans
AD Moodie
JDL Hansen

Abstract

Forty Cape Coloured children who had been hospitalized for kwashiorkor in infancy were compared with their siblings on an intelligence test battery at the 10th year of follow-up. No significant differences in intelligence test performance were noted. A significant discrepancy between the intelligence test score and the drawing score in late-onset cases may be due to affective factors. The groups were similar in terms of height, weight and head circumference. The differences between well nourished and poorly nourished groups found by previous investigators may be accounted for by the independent operation of non-nutritive variables in the social and emotional environment. The use of intrafamilial controls in the present study minimized these influences, as well as possible genetic factors in intellectual development.

S. Afr. Med. J., 45, 1413 (1971)

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eISSN: 2078-5135
print ISSN: 0256-9574