Language skills and intelligence quotient of protein energy malnutrition survivors.

The study was conducted on 33 children aged 3-6 years who suffered from protein energy malnutrition (PEM) during infancy in comparison to 30 matching children to assess the long-term deficits in cognition and language skills. The patients' files were revised to record their admission and follow-up data and history, clinical examination, intelligence quotient and language assessment were done. The study revealed that 2-5 years from the acute attack the PEM patients were still shorter than the controls and their cognitive abilities were poorer.