Growth, intelligence, and school performance in children with cystic fibrosis who have had an episode of malnutrition during infancy.

In this study, we have compared two groups of children with cystic 
fibrosis. One group of CF children had severe malnutrition in the 
first year of life, whereas the second group of CF children 
had not been malnourished. The catch-up growth experienced by both the 
control and malnourished groups was impressive and was generally complete in 
terms of height and weight for age. This finding is consistent 
with other reports regarding catch-up growth following malnutrition associated with celiac 
disease, anorexia nervosa, renal acidosis, Cushing syndrome, and hypothyroidism. Though the 
malnourished group tended to have lower IQ and school performance scores, 
the differences were not statistically significant except for backward digit span. 
That difference may indicate an organic impairment due to malnutrition or 
to any of several other factors. Our data fail to demonstrate 
any permanent or devastating effect of early malnutrition during a very 
rapid growth phase on the subsequent growth, IQ, and school performance 
in children with cystic fibrosis studied at age 7 to 10 
years. 