Serum and liver triglycerides in malnourished Jamaican children with fatty liver

ABSTRACT

Measurements were made of triglyceride concentrations in the liver, serum, and serum lipoproteins in malnourished Jamaican children with fatty liver. The fasting serum triglyceride concentrations of the patients, before treatment, were highly variable, ranging from 55.6 to 353 mg/100ml. The patterns of change for serum triglyceride concentration during treatment were also variable. Patients were grouped according to whether the concentrations of serum triglycerides after recovery were higher than, lower than, or unchanged from, the concentrations before treatment. The three groupings then exhibited concentrations before treatment that fell in discrete ranges, being respectively low, high, or normal. There was no clinical difference among the three groups of patients. There was also no difference in the serum lipoprotein pattern nor in the composition of the serum very low density lipoprotein. The latter did not change during treatment. In most patients the fasting serum triglyceride concentrations before treatment appeared to be correlated with age. The difference between these findings and those reported from other countries are discussed. (AU)