CENTRAL SOMATOSENSORY CONDUCTION TIME IN SEVERELY GROWTH-STUNTED CHILDREN

To examine the effects of chronic malnutrition on central nervous syst em function, we used the somatosensory evoked potential to measure the central conduction time of 20 children aged 7-8 y with heights below the third percentile for their age and 20 control children in Honduras . The two groups differed significantly in socioeconomic status, achie vement in Bender's neurointegrative test, and hematocrit, but not in b irth weight. After median nerve stimulation, the mean central conducti on time (interpeak latency between N13 and N20) for the growth-stunted group (6.19 +/- 0.52 ms) did not differ significantly from that of th e control subjects (6.30 +/- 0.58 ms), suggesting appropriate myelinat ion and fiber diameter. Somatosensory tracts may escape damage resulti ng from postnatal dietary deficiencies because myelination in these tr acts is almost complete at birth.