Scurvy in Old Age

Scurvy in a 3-year-old boy: MRI features.

A 3-year-old boy presented with painful knees (especially the right knee) and difficulty in walking for a few weeks. He complained of lower limb weakness. He was irritable and thinly built. At clinical examination movement of the knees and hips was painful. He had previously been diagnosed with autism. The mother reported that he didn’t eat well. Conventional imaging of the lower limbs revealed...

Scurvy

Scurvy

Scurvy

People write to ask me if the dose is to be half a drachm or half an ounce, so it is as well to say half an ounce unmistakably, or the drug might fall into undeserved disrepute. I am asked if the patients whose swollen legs I describe may not have been suifering from Beri-beri. I believe not. The cases yielded readily to the usual antiscorbutic treatment, while Beri-beri requires turpentine.

Obesity in old age.

Many older people in developed countries are overweight or obese. The prevalence is increasing as more people reach old age already overweight. Obesity in old age is associated with increased morbidity and a reduction in quality of life. The relative increase in mortality is less in older than young adults and the body weight associated with maximal survival increases with advancing age. Althou...