ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To compare blood thiamine concentrations, echocardiography findings, and plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in infants with clinically diagnosed beriberi and healthy matched controls, and to evaluate changes after thiamine treatment. STUDY DESIGN: Sixty-two Cambodian infants (20 cases and 42 controls), aged 2-47 weeks, were enrolled in this prospective study. Echocardiography and phlebotomy were performed at baseline and after thiamine treatment. RESULTS: Both cases and controls were thiamine-deficient, with median blood thiamine diphosphate (TDP) concentrations of 47.6 and 55.1 nmol/L, respectively (P = .23). All subjects had normal left ventricular ejection fraction. The median NT-proBNP concentration in cases (340 pg/mL [40.1 pmol/L]) was higher than previously reported normal ranges, but not statistically significantly different from that in controls (175 pg/mL [20.7 pmol/L]) (P = .10), and was not correlated with TDP concentration (P = .13). Two cases with the lowest baseline TDP concentrations (24 and 21 nmol/L) had right ventricular enlargement and elevated NT-proBNP levels that improved dramatically by 48 hours after thiamine administration. CONCLUSION: Only a minority of thiamine-deficient Cambodian infants demonstrate abnormal echocardiography findings. Thiamine deficiency produces echocardiographic evidence of right ventricular dysfunction, but this evidence is not apparent until deficiency is severe. NT-proBNP concentrations are mildly elevated in sick infants with normal echocardiography findings, indicating possible physiological changes not yet associated with echocardiographic abnormalities.
Subject(s)
Natriuretic Peptide, Brain/blood , Peptide Fragments/blood , Thiamine Deficiency/complications , Thiamine Pyrophosphate/therapeutic use , Ventricular Dysfunction, Left/etiology , Asian People/statistics & numerical data , Beriberi/blood , Beriberi/complications , Beriberi/ethnology , Biomarkers/metabolism , Case-Control Studies , Echocardiography, Doppler/methods , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Heart Function Tests , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Reference Values , Risk Assessment , Severity of Illness Index , Thiamine Deficiency/blood , Thiamine Deficiency/drug therapy , Thiamine Deficiency/ethnology , Thiamine Pyrophosphate/blood , Treatment Outcome , Ventricular Dysfunction, Left/diagnosis , Ventricular Dysfunction, Left/ethnologyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The authors describe an outbreak of beriberi in a detention center in Taiwan and examine risk factors for illness. METHODS: A survey was conducted among a sample of 176 randomly selected detainees. A menu-assisted dietary recall method was used to obtain diet information from nine hospitalized detainees. A probable case patient was defined as an individual who had at least two of the following characteristics: leg edema, weakness of the extremities, poor appetite, and dyspnea. Possible case patients were those who had only one of these characteristics. RESULTS: Of the 176 survey respondents, 19% were classified as probable case patients and 40% as possible case patients. The mortality rate based on probable cases was 1.1%. Body Mass Index (BMI) was negatively associated with illness (p < 0.0001), and length of stay in the detention center was independently positively associated with illness (p < 0.05). The average intake of dietary thiamine among the nine hospitalized case patients who completed three-day dietary recall surveys was 0.49 +/- 0.1 mg/day. After thiamine administration, all symptoms and signs of beriberi resolved. CONCLUSION: This outbreak is a reminder of the importance of ensuring adequate diets for poor, institutionalized, or refugee populations who are unable to supplement their diets.
Subject(s)
Beriberi/ethnology , Diet , Institutionalization , Transients and Migrants/statistics & numerical data , Beriberi/drug therapy , Beriberi/physiopathology , Body Mass Index , China/ethnology , Disease Outbreaks , Health Surveys , Hospitalization , Humans , Mental Recall , Risk Factors , Taiwan/epidemiology , Thiamine/administration & dosageSubject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , Education , Military Hygiene , Military Personnel , Nutritional Sciences , Public Health Practice , Public Policy , Beriberi/ethnology , Beriberi/history , Disease Outbreaks/economics , Disease Outbreaks/history , Disease Outbreaks/legislation & jurisprudence , Education/economics , Education/history , Education/legislation & jurisprudence , Government Programs/economics , Government Programs/education , Government Programs/history , Government Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , History, 20th Century , Malaria/ethnology , Malaria/history , Military Hygiene/economics , Military Hygiene/education , Military Hygiene/history , Military Hygiene/legislation & jurisprudence , Military Personnel/education , Military Personnel/history , Military Personnel/legislation & jurisprudence , Military Personnel/psychology , Nutrition Policy/economics , Nutrition Policy/history , Nutrition Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nutritional Sciences/economics , Nutritional Sciences/education , Nutritional Sciences/history , Nutritional Sciences/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health/economics , Public Health/education , Public Health/history , Public Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Health Practice/economics , Public Health Practice/history , Public Health Practice/legislation & jurisprudence , Starvation/ethnology , Starvation/history , Vietnam/ethnologySubject(s)
Beriberi , Diet , Emigrants and Immigrants , Nutrition Disorders , Race Relations , Social Conditions , Beriberi/ethnology , Beriberi/history , Beriberi/psychology , Crops, Agricultural/economics , Crops, Agricultural/history , Diet/economics , Diet/ethnology , Diet/history , Diet/psychology , Disease Outbreaks/economics , Disease Outbreaks/history , Emigrants and Immigrants/education , Emigrants and Immigrants/history , Emigrants and Immigrants/legislation & jurisprudence , Emigrants and Immigrants/psychology , Emigration and Immigration/history , Emigration and Immigration/legislation & jurisprudence , Employment/economics , Employment/history , Fiji/ethnology , History of Medicine , History, 19th Century , Japan/ethnology , Nutritional Requirements/ethnology , Nutritional Sciences/education , Nutritional Sciences/history , Prejudice , Queensland/ethnology , Race Relations/history , Race Relations/legislation & jurisprudence , Race Relations/psychology , Social Class , Social Conditions/economics , Social Conditions/history , Social DominanceSubject(s)
Correspondence as Topic , Disease Outbreaks , Military Medicine , Military Personnel , Physicians , World War II , Amblyopia/ethnology , Amblyopia/history , Australia/ethnology , Avitaminosis/ethnology , Avitaminosis/history , Beriberi/ethnology , Beriberi/history , Cholera/ethnology , Cholera/history , Correspondence as Topic/history , Disease Outbreaks/history , General Surgery/education , General Surgery/history , History, 20th Century , Military Medicine/economics , Military Medicine/education , Military Medicine/history , Military Personnel/education , Military Personnel/history , Military Personnel/psychology , Paraplegia/ethnology , Paraplegia/history , Physicians/history , Physicians/psychologyABSTRACT
Beriberi is an endemic disease among the Naporuna indigenous people of Ecuadorean Amazonia (annual morbidity rate of 1.5%). A total of 47 patients with dry beriberi were seen at the Franklin Tello Hospital, Napo, during 1995-1996; a similar incidence was observed in previous years. No wet beriberi was found. Although the diagnosis of the disease was made clinically, an effective and quick response to thiamine treatment excluded other differential diagnoses, such as tropical ataxic neuropathy. Although indigenous people have several possible dietetic risk factors, none of them adequately explain the disease's high incidence. Some suggestions are made for the high incidence of beriberi among this Amazonian people but its cause remains unknown.
Subject(s)
Beriberi/ethnology , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Beriberi/drug therapy , Child , Child, Preschool , Diet , Ecuador/epidemiology , Female , Humans , Incidence , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Sex Factors , Thiamine/therapeutic useABSTRACT
The authors report a case of beriberi due to a deficit in thiamine, which became apparent in a young Chinese woman with polyneuropathy, distal oedema and epigastralgia. Parenteral administration of thiamine lead to the virtually complete resolution of symptoms.