Thermal insulation in malnourished Jamaican children.

Brooke, 0. G. (1973). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 48, 901. Thermal insulation in malnourished Jamaican children. The mean summed skinfold at 6 sites in 20 malnourished Jamaican children was 24 5 mm on admission to hospital and 49 8 mm on discharge. Marasmic children initially had thinner skinfolds than children with oedematous malnutrition, and they had a highly significant reduction in total specific thermal insulation. Children with oedema had no such reduction in insulation. During their first week in hospital there was a significant positive correlation between nocturnal mean rectal temperature in the malnourished children and their skinfold thickness and specific thermal insulation. Similar correlations for daytime rectal temperature were not statistically significant. We conclude that loss of thermal insulation may be of importance in the genesis of hypothermia in the sleeping malnourished child, whose posture and inactivity favour a negative heat balance.