Complement (C3), nutrition, and infection.

Complement (C₃) was determined and related to various parameters of nutritional status and past infectious disease experience in a group of 53 rural preschool children in North India. Mean complement level was 25% lower than in an age-matched European reference population. Low complement (C₃) levels were associated mainly with children who were both stunted and wasted, as well as with those who had experienced frequent purulent skin infections in the past.