MALNUTRITION, GASTROENTERITIS AND TRYPSINOGEN CONCENTRATION IN HOSPITALIZED ABORIGINAL CHILDREN

Objective: To explore relationships between malnutrition and pancreati c damage in hospitalised aboriginal children. Methods: Immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) concentrations were measured in two populations of h ospitalised aboriginal children in Australia: 472 children aged 0-3 ye ars, 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 I RT concentration rose with decreasing weight z-score. The IRT concentr ation was otherwise unrelated to nutritional indices. Sixty percent of the 39 Mount Isa patients with gastroenteritis and 24.5% of the 358 A lice Springs patients with gastroenteritis had an IRT concentration in the upper quartile far their population, compared with 16% for patien ts with other diagnoses in both populations. Conclusions: A high IRT c oncentration in patients with low weight z-scores is a confounding eff ect of gastroenteritis, and may result from subclinical pancreatic dis ease in gastroenteritis.