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Risks of inadequate nutrition in disabled children: four cases of scurvy
  1. M A De Ioris1,
  2. C Geremia1,
  3. A Diamanti2,
  4. M H Lombardi1,
  5. R E Papa1,
  6. A Campana1
  1. 1University Department of Pediatrics, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Fiumicino, Italy
  2. 2Artificial Nutrition Unit-Hepatic-Metabolic Diseases Unit, Pediatrics Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Roma, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr M A De Ioris, University Department of Pediatrics, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Via della Torre di Palidoro SNC, Fiumicino 00050, Italy; mantonietta.deioris{at}opbg.net

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2016-310911

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    Scurvy is the clinical consequence of chronic vitamin C deficiency. It is the oldest known nutritional disease, with the first report being in the 1550 BC Papyrus of Ebers, which includes a clear recommendation to eat some vegetables.1 Today, scurvy is rare and almost exclusively associated with malnutrition, malabsorption or psychiatric disease. Recently, in the paediatric population neurological impairment or autistic spectrum disorders have also emerged as risk factors for scurvy owing to food selectivity leading to a potentially fresh fruit- and vegetable-free diet.2 ,3

    In view of these recent observations, we checked our database to evaluate the prevalence of scurvy in a subset of disabled children who are cared for …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MADI: conception of the work, acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data; drafting of the manuscript. CG: conception of the work, acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data. REP: acquisition of data. MHL: revision of the manuscript. AD and AC: critical revision of the work for important intellectual content. All authors approved the manuscript.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.