Proteinase inhibitors and other biochemical criteria in infants and primary schoolchildren from urban and rural environments.

1. Preschool children and schoolchildren from a rural area in the northeast of Thailand were compared with children from urban areas for prealbumin, albumin, transferrin, alpha 1 B-glucoprotein, the acute-phase reactants alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, haptoglobin and the proteinase inhibitors alpha 1-protease inhibitor (A1PI) as well as alpha 2-microglobulin (alpha 2M). Urinary urea nitrogen:creatinine (U-C) as well as haemoglobin were also determined. Village preschool children were grouped according to their SD score for weight-for-height based on the (US) National Center for Health Statistics (1976) standard into a normal group with SD scores of greater than or equal to --1.99 and an undernourished group with SD scores of less than or equal to --2.00. 2. There was no significant difference between the normal and the undernourished groups of preschool children for any of the factors measured. 3. Haemoglobin and prealbumin concentrations of preschool children were lower in the rural children than in the urban preschool children from Bangkok. 4. In rural schoolchildren haemoglobin was lower but albumin, transferrin, alpha 1B-glycoprotein and haptoglobin were higher than in urban schoolchildren from the provincial town of Khon Kaen. 5. Serum concentrations of the proteinase inhibitors A1PI and alpha 2M were significantly higher in the rural children than in the urban children. 6. U-C values were lower in rural schoolchildren compared with urban schoolchildren.