Protein and Calorie Malnutrition Among Preschool Navajo Indian Children

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Abstract
The hospital charts of children, under 5 years of age, admitted with malnutrition to the Public Health Service Indian Hospital in Tuba City, Arizona, were reviewed for the 5-year period of 1963-1967 inclusive. There were 616 children with diagnoses of malnutrition. Five hundred and eighty-seven had heights and weights below the norms for their chronological ages. Fifteen had kwashiorkor and 29 had marasmus. Total serum protein and serum albumin were reduced in the cases of kwashiorkor. The occurrence of these calorie- and protein-deficiency diseases constitute a major public health problem on the western half of the Navajo Reservation. The heights and weights of Head Start children, from all over the reservation, were below the Iowa-Boston norms. This is probably the end result of chronic calorie and protein malnutrition acting in synergism with repeated bacterial and viral infections, causing repeated episodes of gastroenteritis and respiratory infections and contributing to increased infant mortality.

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