Infants who are suffering from nutritional disturbances and show signs of athrepsia may present various manifestations of circulatory derangements. Electrocardiograms have been made from a group of athreptic infants admitted to the St. Louis Children's Hospital, and it is my purpose to direct attention to certain observations made in the study of these cases.
Infants with athrepsia are in a state of partial starvation because the food they receive, for one reason or another, is not sufficient to supply the needs of the body tissues. An insufficient intake by mouth, an inability to completely digest and absorb food, or an inability on the part of the body tissues to completely utilize the food ingested are phenomena that lead to the development of this condition. Anatomic changes that might explain the symptoms associated with the condition have not been found in the body tissues, and it seems necessary to assume some