State of the skin, mucous membranes, hair and vitamin A in children of endemic malaria zones of Antioquia (Colombia)

Abstract

Objective: to know the class and frequency of skin, mucous membranes and hair alterations in children of endemic malaria zones of Antioquia (Colombia).

Methodology: non-blind balanced experimental design. Ninety three children with malaria were included and followed up during 30 days.

Results: 61% of these children had chronic or global or both kinds of malnutrition, according to the anthropometric indexes. Before treatment there were alterations in the following proportions: skin 41%, labial mucous membrane 12%, oral mucous membrane 2%, tongue 15% and hair 16%. At day 30 there had been improvement in all these sites, except for the skin (alterations: 42%). Plasmatic retinol level was lower than 20 ìg/dL in 56% of patients at day 1 (with malaria) and in 4.5% at day 30 (without malaria). During follow-up retinol levels (ìg/dL) were as follows: 19.1 ± 6.8 at day 1; 32.6 ± 7.4 at day 8; 31.2 ± 7.9 at day 30. In general, the state of the skin, labial and oral mucous membranes, tongue, and hair was not associated with retinol level either at day 1 or at day 30; the only exception was the state of the hair at day 30: 50% of those with retinol level lower than 20 ìg/dL had non-healthy hair, as compared with only 9% of those with retinol level at 20 ìg/dL or higher; such state was also not associated with malnutrition risk, except for the association of abnormal skin with chronic and global malnutrition: 60% of children with abnormal skin had chronic and global malnutrition; the corresponding figure for those with normal skin was 20%.

 Conclusions: skin, mucous membranes and hair alterations were very frequent in these children of endemic malaria zones of Antioquia, who also had a high prevalence of chronic, global or both kinds of malnutrition (61%) and low frequency of deficiency of plasmatic retinol (4.5%). In general, skin, mucous membranes, and hair alterations were not associated with either retinol levels or nutritional state.