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A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years

Scurvy is a well-known clinical condition caused by vitamin C deficiency. Although considered a rare disease in high-income countries, it has been recently increasingly reported in children, especially in those with abnormal dietary habits, mental or physical disabilities. We performed an extensive...

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Autores principales: Trapani, Sandra, Rubino, Chiara, Indolfi, Giuseppe, Lionetti, Paolo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8840722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35277043
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14030684
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author Trapani, Sandra
Rubino, Chiara
Indolfi, Giuseppe
Lionetti, Paolo
author_facet Trapani, Sandra
Rubino, Chiara
Indolfi, Giuseppe
Lionetti, Paolo
author_sort Trapani, Sandra
collection PubMed
description Scurvy is a well-known clinical condition caused by vitamin C deficiency. Although considered a rare disease in high-income countries, it has been recently increasingly reported in children, especially in those with abnormal dietary habits, mental or physical disabilities. We performed an extensive review of the literature analyzing studies published in the last 20 years focusing on clinical features, differential diagnosis and diagnostic delay. Fifteen articles were selected, collectively reporting a total of 166 children. Because of the wide clinical spectrum (musculoskeletal complaints and/or mucocutaneous lesions or systemic symptoms), scurvy can mimic several conditions, including autoimmune diseases, infections, and neoplasia. In addition, frequent findings such as normal nutritional status, anemia or elevated inflammatory markers may guide clinicians towards the abovementioned misdiagnoses. Scurvy should be considered in patients presenting with musculoskeletal complaints, not only in those with risk factors but also in healthy children. A focused dietary history and a careful physical examination, assessing other signs of vitamin C deficiency, are mandatory in these patients. When suspected, the dosage of serum vitamin C is the diagnostic gold standard; furthermore, imaging studies, performed by an expert radiologist, can reveal the typical features of scurvy. Only early diagnosis can avoid unnecessary investigations and potentially fatal complications of the disease.
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spelling pubmed-88407222022-02-13 A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years Trapani, Sandra Rubino, Chiara Indolfi, Giuseppe Lionetti, Paolo Nutrients Review Scurvy is a well-known clinical condition caused by vitamin C deficiency. Although considered a rare disease in high-income countries, it has been recently increasingly reported in children, especially in those with abnormal dietary habits, mental or physical disabilities. We performed an extensive review of the literature analyzing studies published in the last 20 years focusing on clinical features, differential diagnosis and diagnostic delay. Fifteen articles were selected, collectively reporting a total of 166 children. Because of the wide clinical spectrum (musculoskeletal complaints and/or mucocutaneous lesions or systemic symptoms), scurvy can mimic several conditions, including autoimmune diseases, infections, and neoplasia. In addition, frequent findings such as normal nutritional status, anemia or elevated inflammatory markers may guide clinicians towards the abovementioned misdiagnoses. Scurvy should be considered in patients presenting with musculoskeletal complaints, not only in those with risk factors but also in healthy children. A focused dietary history and a careful physical examination, assessing other signs of vitamin C deficiency, are mandatory in these patients. When suspected, the dosage of serum vitamin C is the diagnostic gold standard; furthermore, imaging studies, performed by an expert radiologist, can reveal the typical features of scurvy. Only early diagnosis can avoid unnecessary investigations and potentially fatal complications of the disease. MDPI 2022-02-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8840722/ /pubmed/35277043 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14030684 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Trapani, Sandra
Rubino, Chiara
Indolfi, Giuseppe
Lionetti, Paolo
A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years
title A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years
title_full A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years
title_fullStr A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years
title_full_unstemmed A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years
title_short A Narrative Review on Pediatric Scurvy: The Last Twenty Years
title_sort narrative review on pediatric scurvy: the last twenty years
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8840722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35277043
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14030684
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