Plasma and blood volumes in severely malnourished Jamaican children.

Oedema and expansion of the extracellular fluid are well recognized as a complication of malnutrition in adults (McCance, 1951) as well as in children (Waterlow, Cravioto, and Stephen, 1960). An increase in total body water has also been described (Srikantia and Gopalan, 1957; Schnieden, Hendrickse, and Haigh, 1958; Smith, 1960). In the course of investigations on the renal function of malnourished children, a severe reduction in glomerular filtration rate was found (author's observations), and it became necessary to establish that in the children studied there was no reduction in circulating plasma or blood volume to account for these changes. The results of these determinations are now described.