FOLLOW-UP OF SKIN MANIFESTATIONS IN YU-CHENG CHILDREN

We report an 11-year follow-up study on the dermatological manifestati ons of Yu-Cheng children born to mothers who were poisoned by polychlo rinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated cooking oil between 1977 and 1979. Eighty-eight children born to these mothers, and 86 matched controls, were examined by one dermatologist. Chloracne scars were found in one patient, and there were nail abnormalities in about one-third of the exposed patients, Transverse grooves, irregular depressions, and koilo nychia/nail flattening were significantly more frequent than in the co ntrol group, based on Fischer's exact test. This study indicates that in Yu-Cheng children the nail changes are the most persistent abnormal ity after PCB intoxication, and their occurrence may indicate developm ental retardation of the fetal nail matrix. Such a finding might also suggest that PCBs remaining in the mother could exert an effect on nai l growth in children born several years after the intoxication event.