Mental and Physical Disturbances in Children Recovered from Infantile Interstitial Plasma Cell Pneumonia

Summary The development has been observed of the first years of life of 47 interstitial plasma cell pneumonia infants born in 1948‐52. A reply was received to the questionnaire sent out in 42 of the cases and a follow‐up examination was made at the hospital in 31. Two of the children died. In quite a number of cases the development of the child has been slow even compared with other children of the same birth—weight class. At the time of the investigation 9 of the children were distinctly backward and 5 slightly backward. It proved possible to examine the former group clinically. The growth of the children has been slow. The bone age is almost regularly behind that of children of the same age, but the correlation with height approximates the normal. For 25 cases of the material the plasma calcium was determined during the acute phase of int. pneum. and had clearly risen in 20. Of the distinctly backward children the majority belong to the group with the highest calcium values. However,. some of the children with equally high plasma calcium values developed fully satisfactorily. In four children who are all distinctly backward both the plasma calcium and residual nitrogen continue to be high. The bone age in these children is exceedingly low though corresponding approximately to the growth in height. In three of the children osteosclerotic changes can be established in the bones. All four children squint. They are all around 3 years of age and have begun to progress, especially recently.