A prospective 15-year follow-up study of kwashiorkor patients. Part II. Social circumstances, educational attainment and social adjustment.

Of 221 infants serially admitted to hospital with kwashiorkor and continuously observed thereafter, 116 were available for study after 15 years. Eighty-nine siblings formed the comparison group. This report is a final assessment of their social circumstances, attainment in education and adjustment to society. Economic circumstances had improved considerably, housing adequacy had deteriorated and family instability had become relatively less marked. Achievement in education resembled that of the population from which the sample was drawn, and there was no difference between that of ex-patients and siblings. The majority of school-leavers were in gainful occupation but the nature of the work was unskilled or semiskilled. Delinquency was equally common in ex-patients and siblings. More than a quarter of the boys showed serious or potentially serious antisocial behaviour.