cases of scurvy on the rise among children in France

A study published at the beginning of December highlights a significant increase in cases of this disease among children in recent years, and particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Almost disappeared, she is now back. The number of cases of scurvy, this disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency, is increasing in France among children, warns the AP-HP in a press release published this Tuesday, December 18.

The public health establishment relays on its website the results of work carried out by several medical teams from the Robert Debré AP-HP hospital, Inserm, Paris Cité University and the Cayenne hospital department in Guyana. These results were the subject of a study published at the beginning of the month in the scientific journal The Lancet.

The conclusions of this, 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 the Covid-19, an increase also linked to food inflation and socio-economic 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,” underlines 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 of scurvy with a deterioration in the nutritional status of children” although this association “does not necessarily constitute a relationship causal”.

Responsible among other things for intense bone pain and disabling muscle weakness, 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 socio-economic insecurity since 2020 on the nutritional state of children in France,” warns the AP-HP, “in France, inflation food prices reached 15% at the start of 2023, particularly affecting precarious families.”

Several recommendations are thus proposed by the authors of the study, including the implementation of targeted food aid programs or even better access to nutritious and financially affordable food.