Serum cortisol concentrations in children with protein-energy malnutrition

Soliman, A. T. M.; Hassan, A. E. H. I.; Aref, M. K.; Rogol, A. D.

The basal cortisol concentrations in 15 children with kwashiorkor, 15 children with marasmic kwashiorkor and 21 children with marasmus, before and after nutritional rehabilitation, as well as in 10 underweight and 8 normal Egyptian children were measured. Cortisol was increased in kwashiorkor, marasmic kwashiorkor and marasmus, but returned to normal after nutritional rehabilitation. No differences in basal cortisol were detected among the severely malnourished groups before refeeding.