Almost gone, now it’s back. The number of cases of scurvy, this disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, is increasing in France among children, warns the AP-HP in a press release published this Tuesday, December 18.
The public health establishment publishes on its website the results of the work carried out by various medical teams from the Robert Debré AP-HP hospital, Inserm, Paris Cité University and the hospital department of Cayenne, in Guyana. These results were the subject of a study published earlier this month in the scientific journal The Lancet.
The conclusions of this study, which examines the incidence of scurvy in children hospitalized in France between January 2015 and November 2023, are categorical: there was a significant increase in the number of cases suffering from scurvy and severe malnutrition after Covid-19 , an increase is also linked to food inflation and socioeconomic instability.
“A total of 888 patients with scurvy were hospitalized, whose average age was 11 years. The increase in hospitalizations is estimated at 34.5% after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic,” highlights the AP-HP.
“Possible consequence of the increase in precariousness”
The AP-HP adds that “the increase in cases of severe malnutrition, estimated at 20.3%, reinforces the link between scurvy and a deterioration in the nutritional status of children,” although this association “does not necessarily constitute a causal relationship.” “.
Responsible among other things for intense bone pain and disabling muscle weaknesses, scurvy can also cause hemorrhages and a deterioration in general condition.
“The worrying return of this disease highlights the possible consequences of the increase in socioeconomic insecurity since 2020 on the nutritional status of children in France,” warns the AP-HP, “in France, food price inflation initially reached 15% in 2023, especially affecting precarious families.
Therefore, the authors of the study propose several recommendations, including the implementation of specific food aid programs or even better access to nutritious and economically affordable food.
Source: BFM TV
