trypsinogen and Gastroenteritis

To explore relationships between malnutrition and pancreatic damage in hospitalised aboriginal children.. Immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) concentrations were measured in two populations of hospitalised aboriginal children in Australia: 472 children aged 0-3 years, 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.. In Mount Isa, the geometric mean IRT concentration rose with decreasing weight z-score. The IRT concentration was otherwise unrelated to nutritional indices. Sixty percent of the 39 Mount Isa patients with gastroenteritis and 24.5% of the 358 Alice Springs patients with gastroenteritis had an IRT concentration in the upper quartile for their population, compared with 16% for patients with other diagnoses in both populations.. A high IRT concentration in patients with low weight z-scores is a confounding effect of gastroenteritis, and may result from subclinical pancreatic disease in gastroenteritis.

Topics: Adolescent; Analysis of Variance; Anthropometry; Australia; Child; Child Nutrition Disorders; Child, Preschool; Gastroenteritis; Hospitalization; Humans; Infant; Infant Nutrition Disorders; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; Pancreatic Diseases; Trypsinogen