Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-28-2024
Abstract
Introduction:
Scurvy, the disease state caused by ascorbic acid deficiency, was once an extremely common disease but is now thought to be a rare disease in postmodern societies. Physicians are not trained to consider scurvy as a possible diagnosis in patients at risk; rather, it is considered a rare diagnosis to add to a differential for completeness’s sake.
Methods:
We sought to describe the scorbutic patients seen by one physician during a busy academic emergency medicine career. Case series of patients seen by one physician between 1993 and 2023 at five academic teaching hospitals with Emergency Departments (EDs) in the mid-Eastern United States. Presenting signs and symptoms, known scurvy risk factors, Vitamin C levels, clinical course, and outcome for each patient are described.
Results:
There were 14 presentations by 12 patients diagnosed with scurvy who were initially evaluated in the ED between 1993 and 2023. Each patient had a known risk factor for inadequate Vitamin C intake. All had clinical findings suggestive of scurvy and all but one had a subnormal serum Vitamin C level detected on serum samples sent from the ED.
Conclusion:
The detection of 12 cases of scurvy by one physician over a three-decade period highlights the importance of screening for scurvy in at-risk populations and generates the hypothesis that scurvy is not a rare disease but rather a rare diagnosis. This research hypothesis should be investigated in further studies.
Recommended Citation
Gaieski, David F., "Scurvy: A Rare Disease or a Rare Diagnosis?" (2024). Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers. Paper 245.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/emfp/245
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author's final published version in the Journal of Emergencies, Trauma and Shock, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2024, Pg. 53 - 57.
The published version is available at https://www.doi.org/10.4103/jets.jets_108_23. Copyright © 2024 Journal of Emergencies, Trauma, and Shock | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow.